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.
