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Biden Administration Continues to Hamstring Israel’s War Against Hamas

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Follow Steve Postal: @HebraicMosaic

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As Israel prepares to conquer Hamas’ stronghold in Rafah, the Biden administration continues to make unforced errors while armchair quarterbacking Israel’s war to vanquish Hamas. While Israel is fighting a battle for survival, US Deputy National Security Adviser John Finer recently told Arab Americans in Dearborn, Michigan that he does not have “any confidence in this current government in Israel.” Taking this along with remarks made by US Secretary of State Antony Blinken at a recent presser, one can readily see that the Biden administration continues to hamstring Israel’s war of self-defense.

When Israel says it will destroy Hamas, the administration wavers. In the presser, Blinken twice mentioned that the administration supports Israel’s goal to make sure that an attack like October 7 never happens again. But given that Hamas has stated that it will continue to attack Israel in such a way until it is destroyed, Israel’s only solution is to destroy Hamas. When asked specifically by an Al Jazeera English reporter if the US supported Israel’s quest to destroy Hamas, Blinken demurred.

The administration answers Hezbollah threat with equivocation and half-measures. Blinken stated that the administration continues “to work closely with Israel and Lebanon on diplomatic efforts to de-escalate tensions on Israel’s northern border so that families can return to their homes – both in northern Israel and in southern Lebanon – and live in peace and security.” Blinken’s quote shows that the administration believes in a moral equivalency between Hezbollah’s terrorism towards Israel, and Israel’s right to respond to that terrorism. Blinken also doesn’t mention that the current parameters of the negotiations do not remove Hezbollah’s threat to Israel, as they allow Hezbollah to keep troops south of the Litani River, in direct violation of UN Security Resolution 1701 from 2006.

The administration continues to wrongfully browbeat Israel for civilian casualties in Gaza. Much of Blinken’s recent presser was focused on placing an obligation on Israel to minimize civilian casualties in Gaza, stating that “the daily toll that [Israel’s] military operations continue to take on innocent civilians remains too high.” Blinken does not define what he means by “too high,” nor does he give any constructive suggestions on how Israel can limit those casualties. Blinken also ignores that Gazan civilian death estimates are coming from Hamas, which make such figures inherently unreliable.

Basic math and circumstances vindicate Israel. The IDF estimates that it has removed anywhere from 43 to 60 percent of Hamas’ troops from the battlefield (by killing 9,000, wounding 8,000, and arresting 2,300). Even assuming the “Gaza Health Ministry,” i.e., Hamas figure of 27,840 deaths is fact, the 9,000 Hamas operatives killed by the IDF amount to a third of all Gazan deaths, a pretty good ratio given the urban environment in which Hamas nests itself. While Blinken does recognize that Hamas “cynically embeds itself among men, women, and children, and fires rockets from hospitals, from schools, from mosques, [and] from residential buildings,” by admonishing Israel for the plight of the Gazans, Blinken shows he is not internalizing Hamas’ tactics. Blinken also does not offer Israel any constructive recommendations for how it should minimize civilian casualties (many of which are likely either fabricated or caused by Hamas).

The administration ignores Hamas’ role in intercepting aid. Blinken is also obsessed with Israeli efforts to facilitate aid into Gaza, and presses Israel to do more. But Blinken fails to mention the times that Hamas steals that aid, nor does he offer any solution to prevent Israel from unwittingly supplying aid to its archnemesis.

The administration commoditizes Hamas’ October 7 massacre against Israel. In one of Blinken’s more depraved statements, he states that “Israelis were dehumanized in the most horrific way on October 7th. The hostages have been dehumanized every day since. But that cannot be a license to dehumanize others.” Blinken is equivocating the murder, kidnapping, rape, and dismemberment that Hamas perpetrated on October 7 with Israel’s right to strike back against Hamas and defend itself. Blinken’s remarks are similar in tone(deafness) to President Biden calling Israel’s response to Hamas’ October 7 attack as “over the top.”

The administration continues to peddle the need for a Palestinian state. Blinken mentioned that the administration supports a “a concrete, time-bound, irreversible path to a Palestinian state living side by side in peace and security with Israel, with the necessary security assurances.” But Blinken does not address the many elephants in the room, namely the Palestinian Authority’s support for terrorism, Hamas, the October 7 attack, and its continued demonization of Jews and Israel. In calling for Palestinian Authority reform, Blinken mentioned “governance,” “accountability,” and “reforms,” yet failed to mention the ideological toxicity that defines the Palestinian Authority. A Palestinian state is simply not in the best interest of the State of Israel.

Blinken’s recent presser shows that the Biden administration’s view of the Israel-Hamas war is fundamentally flawed on many levels. Israel must defeat Hamas, despite constant hamstringing from the Biden administration.

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International

Trump’s Middle East Policy Taking Shape

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Follow Steve Postal: @HebraicMosaic

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What would a new Trump administration mean for the Middle East? Expect the following:

Increased Pressure on Iran and its Proxies

Brian Hook, Trump’s former special envoy to Iran who is believed to be leading Trump’s transition team for the State Department, stated that the new Trump administration would seek to “…isolate Iran diplomatically and weaken them economically, so that they can’t fund all of the violence…” coming from Iran’s proxies, “…all of whom destabilize Israel and our Gulf partners.” This approach contrasts with the Biden-Harris administration, who engaged the Islamic Republic diplomatically and economically, and even removed the Houthis from the Specially Designated Global Terrorist (SDGT) entity list from February 2021 through January 2024. That being said, Hook also stated that the new Trump administration would have “no interest in regime change” in Iran, and that decisions about the future of Iran lies with its people.

The Trump administration may green light an Israeli attack on Iran’s nuclear sites. GOP spokeswoman Elizabeth Pipko refused to say whether President-elect Trump would approve of Israel attacking Iran’s nuclear sites, stating that Trump should speak for himself on this issue and will do so when he assumes office. However, Trump had stated in October that Israel should strike Iran’s nuclear sites. In contrast, the Biden-Harris administration vocally opposed Israel attacking Iran’s nuclear sites or oil fields, and Israel’s attack plans were leaked to Iran through someone in the Biden-Harris administration’s Defense department.

Striving to End Wars in Lebanon and Gaza

According to Pipko, President-elect Trump wants Israel to end the wars in Gaza and Lebanon quickly, decisively, and with victory. Pipko contrasted this approach with the Biden-Harris administration’s “back and forth” policy, and that the Biden-Harris administration was pressuring how Israel conducts war based on election considerations. The Biden-Harris administration was guilty of “armchair quarterbacking” Israel’s wars in an unproductive way, including by leaking Israel’s plans to strike Lebanon, opposing the Rafah invasion, and opposing the killing of several arch-terrorists.

Trump will also likely prioritize the release of the hostages; Trump recently threatened Hamas, stating that if they did not free its hostages before inauguration day, it will pay “a very big price.” In contrast, the Biden-Harris administration has been spinning its wheels in endless failed diplomacy with Qatar, having not produced a hostage deal with Hamas since November 2023.

 

Pursuing a Conditional Peace with Palestinians

President-elect Donald Trump will likely re-visit his 2020 peace plan between Israel and the Palestinians, according to Brian Hook. Regarding the 2020 plan, Hook stated that “much of that work is still relevant today.”

On the issue of a Palestinian state, expect that the Trump administration won’t pursue a Palestinian state unconditionally for its own sake, as the Biden-Harris administration has. Hook conceded that Trump’s 2020 plan, which was endorsed by Israel and U.S.’ allies in the Gulf, “had a path to a two-state solution.” But Hook also recognized that Israelis are not focused on a Palestinian state now, and are instead focused on protecting themselves from terrorism in the wake of the October 7, 2023 attack on Israel.

Additionally, Palestinian Authority (PA) President Mahmoud Abbas outright rejected the 2020 plan, and the plan also required the PA to provide security guarantees for Israel, recognize Israel, and allow Israeli citizens to remain in Judea and Samaria, all of which the PA did not agree to. If the new Trump administration seeks to revive this plan, it will likely revive these conditions for a Palestinian state as well. The PA will then in turn likely reject it a second time, proving again that the PA is not a partner for peace.

 

Expanding the Abraham Accords

President-elect Trump is also poised to expand the Abraham Accords. Trump brokered normalization deals between Israel and the UAE, Bahrain, Morocco, and Sudan. Reportedly, the previous Trump administration was on the verge of expanding the Abraham Accords to Indonesia and Mauritania, but were prevented from doing so once the administration’s term expired. During the past Trump administration, Saudi Arabia had been trying to get Pakistan to join the Abraham Accords as well.

In contrast, the Biden-Harris administration failed to add any countries to the Abraham Accords. Most notably is the administration’s failure to clinch an Israel-Saudi Arabia deal after chilling US relations with Saudi Arabiaand insisting on a Palestinian state as an integral part of any deal. The Biden-Harris administration seems content with now pursuing a bilateral US-Saudi deal that ices out Israel, which would completely undermine the spirit of the Abraham Accords.

Jared Kushner has had multiple discussions with Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman on the issue of US-Israel-Saudi relations since President-elect Trump left office. So given past efforts, the new Trump administration could clinch Abraham Accords deals with Indonesia, Mauritania, Oman, and/or the big prize, Saudi Arabia.

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