Supporting The Right To Defend Yourself

I guess since the Biden administration does not think it worthwhile to defend America by protecting its southern border, it doesn’t see why other nations should find it necessary to defend themselves.

On Sunday, NBC News reported the following:

The Biden administration is discussing using weaponry sales to Israel as leverage to convince the government of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to heed long-standing U.S. calls to scale back its military assault in the Gaza Strip, according to three current U.S. officials and one former U.S. official.

At the direction of the White House, the Pentagon has been reviewing what weaponry Israel has requested that could be used as leverage, said the sources. They said no decisions have been made.

The sources said Israeli officials continue to ask the administration for more weapons, including large aerial bombs, ammunition and air defenses.

After weeks of private administration requests produced fewer results than the White House wants, the sources said, the U.S. is considering slowing or pausing the deliveries in the hope that doing so will prod the Israelis to take action, such as opening humanitarian corridors to provide more aid to Palestinian civilians.

Why in the world should Israel scale back its operations in the Gaza Strip? Israel was peacefully existing when it was brutally attacked on October 7th. Israel did nothing to provoke the attack (other than exist). If Israel does not end Hamas and find a way to prevent terrorists from taking over Gaza again, there will be another attack similar to the one of October 7. You can’t negotiate with terrorists. That has been proven. Why is the administration focused on Israel rather than pressuring Hamas to release the hostages?

The article concludes:

Biden has said for weeks that he’s been doing all he can to get Israel to change its military tactics.

“I’ve been quietly working with the Israeli government to get them to reduce and significantly get out of Gaza,” Biden said on Jan. 8 when confronted by protesters calling for a cease-fire. “I’ve been using all that I can to do that.”

White House officials argue that Biden has had some success, though they concede that Israeli government officials still have not gone as far as the president has wanted.

A senior administration official, speaking on the condition of anonymity to talk candidly, expressed frustration with Israeli officials. “There’s a lot more that needs to be done and they need to be more careful about,” the official said.

If Israel continues its activities in Gaza, the rest of the hostages may not survive. However, if Israel withdraws from Gaza, there is a good chance that the hostages will never be released and before very long more hostages will be taken.

Bad Reporting Creates Misplaced Blame

Secretary of State Blinken is visiting Arab countries in the Middle East, supposedly working to end the war in the Gaza Strip. Actually, he is attempting to encourage Israel’s neighbors to put pressure on Israel to stop fighting Hamas in Gaza. Meanwhile some relatives of the hostages are trying to pressure Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to end the war and bring home the hostages. Have they forgotten October 7? Nearly everyone wants to end the war and bring home the hostages, but at what cost?

According to some reports, Israel has offered a two-month cease-fire in exchange for the return of the hostages. That offer has been refused. So who is the problem?

The Gaza Strip operated as an independent entity before October 7. The residents of Gaza were free to commute to Israel to work–Gaza did not have jobs for them–humanitarian aid money was used to build tunnels and buy weapons. Any poverty in Gaza was the result of the people governing Gaza–not the fault of Israel. Some of the people in Gaza who worked in Israel were among those who attacked Israel on October 7. Now they no longer have jobs.

Many in America and worldwide have been misled into thinking that the war in the Middle East is Israel’s fault. I wonder if those chanting “From the river to the sea” actually have any idea that they are calling for a new holocaust. Anyone who does not support the elimination of Hamas does not understand that Hamas has never changed its Charter, which calls for the elimination of Israel. Hamas is supported and financed by Iran and Qatar. Iran freely chants “Death to America.” Do those in America supporting Hamas realize that they are the next target? We need to teach our children the story of the woman who rescued the dying poisonous snake and nursed it back to health. It didn’t end well.

We’ve Seen This Play Before

The Muslim quest to drive Israel into the sea has a pattern that is followed every time the neighboring nations or terrorists attack Israel. When Israel fights back and the attackers run low on ammunition and other supplies, they call for a cease-fire and ask for the global community to support their efforts for peace. They then use that cease-fire to re-arm, build tunnels, and prepare to attack again (see article here). Those cries for a cease-fire have already begun, and Israel has the perfect response.

On Monday, Breitbart reported:

On Monday’s broadcast of MSNBC’s “Andrea Mitchell Reports,” Israeli Government Spokesman Eylon Levy reacted to calls for humanitarian pauses by Israel by pointing out that, according to reporting by The New York Times, Hamas has ample supplies of fuel and other supplies for itself and calling on those pushing for a pause to demand Hamas release its own fuel.

Host Andrea Mitchell asked if Israel is concerned about the White House getting frustrated over the humanitarian situation in Gaza. Levy said that Israel welcomes “the very solid support that we have received from President Biden, his moral clarity and material support as well, in explaining that Israel is dealing with a terror organization that is worse than ISIS and the U.S. will make sure Israel has everything it needs to win this war.”

He continued that Israel wants to see humanitarian aid go to Gaza and is working to increase it, but with the conditions that the resources not go to Hamas and Hamas not use humanitarian corridors to re-arm.

The article concludes:

He (Israeli Government Spokesman Eylon Levy) added, “Hamas has been drip-feeding fuel to these hospitals in order to keep them operational. Why has Hamas been drip-feeding fuel to the hospitals? Because it wants to continue using innocent Palestinians as human shields in order to shield the military targets that are located underneath those hospitals. That is, of course, a grave breach of international law under the Geneva Conventions, for any army — not to mention a brutal ISIS-like terror organization — to use human civilians in that way as human shields. The fuel exists in the Gaza Strip for all of the humanitarian needs, but it’s controlled by Hamas, the same Hamas that we’re concerned, if we allow more fuel into the Gaza Strip, is going to requisition those supplies anyway. And you don’t have to take our word for it, The New York Times published just yesterday or the day before, an article stating clearly, there is one group in the Gaza Strip that remains well-stocked in terms of fuel and food and all other sources, Hamas.”

We have seen this play before. I hope it ends differently this time and Israel defeats the terrorists. That would make all the world a safer place.

 

 

What Was Gained By The Middle East Cease Fire ?

Obviously, one of the main things gained by last night’s cease-fire between Israel and Hamas is that at least for the moment no one is getting attacked by rockets or suicide bombers. That is a good thing, but what is the price of this cease-fire?

Paul Mirengoff at Power Line posted an article yesterday listing the pros and cons of the agreement.

Some of the pros:

First, the agreement puts an end, at least for now, to the bombardment of Israel.

...Second, the agreement means that Israel will not undertake, at least for now, an invasion of Gaza. Such an invasion would have been bloody. Now, that bloodshed is avoided.

A third advantage exists to the extent that the U.S. made secret promises to Israel in exchange for its agreement to the cease fire (one hopes that Israel demanded some). Abstract promises and guarantees from Obama regarding Israel’s security are meaningless. But let’s hope that Israel received concrete promises pertaining to weaponry and the like.

Mr. Mirengoff points out that Hamas might have made the agreement because it was running out of rockets.

Unfortunately, there are also some problems with the cease-fire.

The article reports:

First, Hamas won. Why? Because it bombarded Israel and was not crushed for it.

…Second, because Hamas wins, Israel loses. There is no such thing as a win-win deal with an enemy whose goal is your destruction.

…A third disadvantage is that Israel reportedly has agreed to cease the targeting of terrorists like Ahmed al-Jabari, who was killed by an Israeli air strike at the outset of this conflict. This means that Hamas operatives can kill Israelis, or cause them to be killed, and then walk the streets of Gaza without fear of Israeli retaliation.

The article also notes some of the effect this conflict and truce will have on Iran‘s view of America‘s role in the Middle East. It appears that America acted as a neutral party rather than a supporter of Israel. We have told Israel that they could not target terrorists as we ourselves are targeting terrorist with drone strikes.

The article reaches some troubling conclusions:

More broadly, the fact that Hamas came out ahead — a bombing campaign against Israel produced Israeli concessions — will strengthen Israel’s many enemies. It will confirm their view that the Arab spring has turned the tide against Israel, and that history is on their side. The importance of this kind of cosmic confidence cannot be overstated.

The fact that Egypt is credited with brokering the deal will be part of the narrative. For one thing, of course, the radical Islamist government that brokered the deal is a creation — indeed, the flower — of the Arab Spring. For another, the fact (or even the perception) that Israel needed a radical Islamist government to bail it out of conflict it didn’t win militarily is a huge victory for the Muslim Brotherhood and, by extension, to Israel’s Islamist enemies everywhere.

This bring us to Iran. What will the mullahs think of this saga? One takeaway is that Israel did not defeat the weakest of its enemies. This follows Israel’s failure to defeat Hezbollah in the last Lebanon war. Iran will believe that, increasingly, Israel is a paper tiger that has lost the will to fight. This, in turn, will embolden Iran and its allies/puppets.

Stay tuned.

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