Joe Biden couldn’t have picked a worse time to betray Israel

President Biden couldn’t have picked a more critical moment to betray Israel — just as it’s on the verge of a potential major breakthrough in its bid to eradicate Hamas and possibly recover Israeli and American hostages.

Friday saw Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu send negotiators to Paris for hostage talks after weeks of pressure from the White House.

We hope there’s real progress — yet, while Israeli officials anonymously expressed cautious optimism, they noted that any negotiations would be “arduous.”

That’s beyond certain.

And largely thanks to the clear eagerness of Biden & Co. to reward Hamas.

In other words, the incentives for the terrorist killers to make any real deal is vastly diminished.

Consider: On Tuesday, the United States vetoed a UN Security Council resolution calling for an immediate cease-fire in Gaza, but Team Biden is simultaneously pushing its own plan to order a halt to fighting.

Biden officials also are reiterating their opposition to an Israeli ground attack on the Gazan city of Rafah.

Are they for real?

Do they really want Israel to leave the Hamas terrorists intact — able to rebuild, launch more Oct. 7-style attacks and prolong the Palestinian-Israel war forever?

Just as Israeli forces are set to crush the terror group’s remaining battalions?

Do the Bidenites really think Israel could ever agree to that?

Even a temporary cease-fire would give Hamas breathing room, allowing key members to relocate, forces to regroup and fighters to steal humanitarian aid from civilians.

And on the realpolitik side of the question, why shouldn’t Hamas now feel confident in just banking on further Biden betrayals of Israel rather than making any concessions in Paris?

Meanwhile, Jerusalem says it’s already dismantled 18 of Hamas’ 24 regional battalions in Gaza but needs to send ground troops into Rafah to destroy the remaining terrorists and infrastructure and search for hostages.

It also believes further military pressure is the best way to force Hamas to release those hostages: Israeli forces are threatening to launch ground operations in Rafah if Hamas doesn’t return them by the start of Ramadan on March 11.

“Hamas is left with marginal [forces] in the central camps and with the Rafah Brigade, and what stands between them and a complete collapse as a military system is a decision” by the Israel Defense Forces, Defense Minister Yoav Gallant explained.

Located on the Egyptian border, Rafah has also served as a center for importing weapons.

Missiles capable of hitting Tel Aviv have made their way into Hamas’ hands in Gaza via smuggling operations through the city.

If Israel is to ensure its safety, it has no choice but seize control of Rafah and end that arms-smuggling, at the very least.

Yet Biden and his team are fiercely pressuring Israel not to attack, even as they push for a cease-fire.

They’re also pressing their delusional dream of a “two-state solution,” a notion the Israeli Cabinet has firmly rejected and that just 25% of Israelis support.

After Oct. 7, you have to be blind not to see a horrific security threat from such a state — and not to view it as a reward for Hamas’ inhuman terrorist attack launched that day.

Biden & Co. think they can force Israel to accept whatever deadly terms they impose.

That’s not going to happen, and their pressure can only harm the Jewish state.

The sooner the White House gets that message — and backs Israel, as it promised it would — the better the chances for peace.