You’ve probably never seen Antony Blinken get mad. When it happens, there’s no mistaking it.

He doesn’t yell or scream. But his voice changes in a way those close to him struggle to describe beyond the word “intense.” He becomes very blunt about what he wants. If there’s a table in front of him, he’ll tap it for emphasis.

The secretary of State has shown this quiet fury in private these last few months as he’s tackled the Israel-Hamas war, the trickiest challenge so far in his tenure.

But maybe it’s time America’s chief diplomat expressed some of that anger in public. Because at the moment, he looks weak.

Israeli leaders have met Blinken’s requests with minor concessions if not outright defiance — and President Joe Biden has given him near-zero leverage to use with them. The most promising war-related talks are being led by others in the Biden administration.

Many State Department staffers, meanwhile, are furious with his handling of the crisis.

Blinken is famously polite, even in informal settings, a reputation he had even as a child. He is also careful to stick to his talking points, so you’re never certain what he truly believes. As I’ve watched him handle this crisis, I’ve started to wonder if he is too nice to be secretary of State.

If Blinken openly signaled his anger, maybe Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu wouldn’t so easily oppose his call for a future Palestinian state. Maybe a Blinken more obviously furious about the conflict would mean pro-Palestinian activists —like the ones protesting outside his house — could find more sympathy for a U.S. position they see as unflinchingly pro-Israel.

I posed such questions to nearly a dozen people — some in the administration who work directly with Blinken, other State Department employees, former U.S. officials, analysts and others — ahead of the secretary’s ongoing visit to the Middle East. It’s his fifth trip to the region since the Oct. 7 Hamas militant attack on Israel that launched the war.

The department declined to make Blinken available for comment. But State Department spokesperson Matthew Miller said in a statement that regional leaders constantly tell Blinken that American leadership is “indispensable in addressing this crisis.”

“Sometimes results come quickly, sometimes it takes more time, but he will continue to tackle these hard problems because the work he is doing is important for the United States and important for the world,” Miller said.

Most others who spoke to me were granted anonymity because of the sensitivity of the topic. Their responses ranged from disdain for my questions to disdain for Blinken’s performance. The only thing most agreed upon is that Blinken faces an exceptionally hard challenge while operating within the limits Biden sets, including a refusal to condition military aid to Israel.

I also was told things might look different soon.

The Biden administration is working on plans that tie together Palestinians’ desire for a state with Israel’s desire for formal relations with Arab countries such as Saudi Arabia. It is trying to pull together a proposal — a roadmap, a framework, whatever — that includes incentives for all sides to wind down and look past the war. It will include rebuilding the Gaza........

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