Remember that best friend you had when you were younger. You were great pals – did everything together – until the day they took the keys to your car and told you that they wouldn’t give them back until you did exactly what they said? Remember that? No, of course you don’t, because that’s not what friends do. Friends don’t extort friends. But that is exactly what the U.S. is doing to Israel.
President Joe Biden made a nice speech recently in which he promised that neither the Holocaust nor October 7 would ever be forgotten. But meanwhile, behind the scenes, he was twisting Israel’s arm to force a ceasefire with Hamas that would open the door for a future October 7 to take place. How is the arm twisting taking place? By withholding promised and much needed munitions that are essential for Israel to prosecute the war.
Just last night on CNN, Biden said, “If they go into Rafah, I’m not supplying the weapons that have been used historically to deal with Rafah, to deal with the cities – that deal with that problem.” U.S. Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin has affirmed the president’s action, saying that America has already suspended one shipment of weapons that most believe consists of 6500 advanced JDAM kits for accuracy of unguided bombs.
U.S. State Department spokesman Matthew Miller announced on Wednesday that the administration is considering delaying other shipments, too. But don’t worry, they say, “our long-term commitment to Israel has not changed.”
So, what you’re saying, spokesman Miller, is that as long as we are faithful little obedient dogs, you’ll be nice. But if we ever disobey, then you’ll whap our snouts with a newspaper and throw us outside to the wolves.
Israel is no one’s lap dog – not even that of the most powerful nation on earth.
At the Yad Vashem ceremony for Yom HaShoah on Sunday evening, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu made Israel’s position very clear. He said, “From here in Jerusalem, I am sending a very clear-cut message: You will not chain our hands, and even if Israel has to stand alone, it will stand alone and will continue to fight our enemies until victory.”
King David said it a little differently several millennia ago, “Now I know that the LORD saves His anointed; He will answer him from His holy heaven with the saving strength of His right hand. Some trust in chariots, and some in horses; but we will remember the name of the LORD our God” (Psalm 20:6-7).
When Sennacherib, king of Assyria, came against Jerusalem, his spokesman called out Israel’s King Hezekiah for trusting in Egypt for help, calling Pharoah’s kingdom, “this broken reed, Egypt, on which if a man leans, it will go into his hand and pierce it” (Isaiah 36:6). When it comes to Middle East policy, I think “broken reed” is an apt description of this current U.S. administration’s policies, considering its multiple failures:
1) Hamas is still not ready to reach an agreement on hostages without allowing for its total victory.
2) Saudi Arabia is increasing its demands for an agreement with Israel because it would rather wait for a Trump-brokered deal.
3) Both Republicans and Democrats blocked a Saudi/American agreement because Israel had been left out of it.
4) The terrorist president of the Palestinian National Authority (PNA), Mahmoud Abbas, is not ready for any kind of reform and continues to provide blood money to the families of terrorists.
5) Palestinian leadership is a mess with Hamas ready to kill any of Abbas’s officials who might set foot in Gaza.
6) The U.S. humanitarian dock/pier under construction in Gaza is under threat and will eventually be bombed by Hamas.
7) Outside of Israel, the Houthis are running riot, U.S. troops are being kicked out of some African nations, U.S. policy is failing in Ukraine, and there is the lasting legacy of the horrendous debacle in Afghanistan.
This is why Biden is pushing so hard for this victory. He feels his reelection may depend on peace in Gaza and the development of a two-state solution, and he is willing to sacrifice Israel’s well-being to get it.
War in Rafah
Despite the U.S. administration’s threats and protestations, the Rafah offensive has begun. There are two main foci for this operation: 1) Controlling the eastern region closest to Israel. 2) Controlling the Rafah crossing into Egypt which is the main oxygen of Hamas above the ground. After a massive undertaking to relocate civilians, during which more than 100,000 people were moved in one day, the Israel Air Force (IAF) began to soften up targets. Now, ground forces have moved into eastern Rafah in the form of Division 162 under the leadership of the 401st Brigade. Once the IDF has control of the Philadelphi corridor along the Egypt-Gaza border, they will begin the arduous work of uncovering the unimaginable web of tunnels under the ground.
There was a big scuttle about Hamas supposedly accepting a CIA/Qatari proffered deal on Tuesday. It turns out it was just another attempt to make Israel look bad. Hamas never accepted a plan. Instead, they offered their own plan which centered around releasing the bodies of dead hostages. That is the last contingency that we would accept, because there would be nothing stopping Hamas from killing hostages and sending their bodies over as part of the deal.
As I mentioned earlier, the only deal Hamas wants is one that will give them back everything they lost and that punishes Israel. They are on the brink of defeat, and the only chance they have is if an international coalition of statesmen gives them victory. There are plenty in Washington and other international capitals who are anxious to do just that.
War in the North
On Wednesday, the IDF fired from the Golan at several targets around Damascus, Syria. Also on Wednesday, Hezbollah claimed responsibility for at least 10 attacks using drones and rockets. In one of those attacks, a powerful Burkan rocket was fired at an IDF barracks in Biranit. In response, the IDF is keeping up steady attacks on Hezbollah targets in villages in southern Lebanon.
While Israel is going to have to deal with Hezbollah at some point, the questionable support from its allies will ensure that for now, at least, Netanyahu and the IDF will have to keep their primary focus on Hamas in Gaza in the south.
Protests
It was good to see a number of universities crack down on the students and outside agitators who took over their campuses last week. Many arrests were made, and it was particularly nice to witness the Dutch police take a bulldozer to the anti-Israel encampment at the University of Amsterdam. But the video that made my day was of a snowflake Princeton student bemoaning the fact that the university was not caring for their health during their hunger strike against the policies of that same university. Want to know how to get healthy? Eat something.
Still, there were those universities that caved to student pressure. Brown, Northwestern, and the University of Minnesota were just a few that claimed to have reached an agreement with protesters to reconsider their continuation of investments in Israel. Successful terrorism breeds more terrorism. It’s true on university campuses, and it’s true in Gaza.
Turkey
Turkey’s President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has found something that he is exceptionally good at. That is crashing his country’s economy. Inflation has reached 70% and the Turkish lira has plunged to 32.3 to the dollar. Three years ago, the rate was 8.3. Most blame the president’s authoritarian rule and his unconventional belief that if he increases interest rates it will push inflation even higher. Orthodox belief holds to the opposite.
There was an interesting last-minute development that came through last night. Turkey has authorized temporary trade relations with Israel because of their economic struggles. After Erdogan’s bold words condemning Israel so that he could look like a hero in the Muslim world, he now realizes that the ceasefire he expected isn’t happening. So, now he slinks back to “temporarily” reestablish trade. Yeah, that didn’t quite go as planned, did it, Mr. Erdogan?
