LOS ANGELES.–Sen. Lindsey Graham, 69, appearing on CNN’s “State of the Union,” urged Israel to give Iran an ultimatum, either return the remaining hostages in Gaza or face attacks on its oil infrastructure, something so provocative it only opens a new front for Israel while it prosecutes its war in Gaza and the growing war in Lebanon. Graham should urge the U.S. to take independent military action on Iran to stop state-sponsored terrorism. Graham plays war hawk for Republicans in the U.S. Senate, a role he took over from the late Sen. John McCain (R-Az.) who often encouraged aggressive U.S. military intervention. Graham support former President Donald Trump’s bid for the White House but continues to back 81-year-old President Joe Biden’s most reckless foreign adventure, funding proxy war in Ukraine against the Kremlin. Graham should refrain from giving advice.
Graham finds himself in a personal dilemma backing Biden’s proxy war in Ukraine, knowing that Trump’s first order of business after winning the presidency would end the Ukraine War. Trump received the endorsement of Robert F. Kennedy Jr. Aug. 23 precisely because Trump seeks to end the Ukraine War. Trump promised on winning office to end the war in 24 hours, something both Kiev and Moscow doubt, despite knowing what Trump means. Trump means he would cut Ukrainian funding unless Ukraine’s 46-year-old President Volodymyr Zelens agrees to peace talks, regardless of the negotiation and compromises needed for success. Graham has showed no interest in ending the Ukraine War only encouraging Zelensky to keep hitting the Russian Federation until 71-year-old Russian President Vladimir Putin pulls all his troops out of Ukraine.
Graham hasn’t come to speed with Trump’s foreign policy calling for an urgent end to the Ukraine War. He and RFK Jr. see only bad things happening in Ukraine and the rest of Europe, including spreading the conflict to the European Continent. “How should the U.S. respond to what’s going on in the Middle East?” asked CNN’s Jake Tapper. And what is your message to get the cease-fire and hostage release deal across the finish line?” Graham sees Iran as doing anything possible to stop Israel from reconciling with Saudi Arabia and other Arab Gulf States, something that started to happen in the 2020 Abraham Accords under Trump. “Well, number one, I think we go to remember that the October 7th attack was generated in my view, to stop normalization between Saudi Arabia and Israel . . “ Grham told Tapper. Well the attack was actually a Hamas terrorist attack.
Graham should question the advisability of trying to negotiate with a known terrorist organization, something the U.S. would not do after Sept. 11, 2001. Graham sees Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei as doing anything to stop Israeli and Arab Gulf Sate cooperation. Iran is a Shiite Muslim state, not supported by Saudi Arabia’s Grand Mufti in Mecca and Medina. While Graham is right that Iran would prefer that Sunni Arab states would stay at war with Israel, it’s also true that Iran has its own agenda funding Yemen’s Houthi rebels, Gaza’s Hamas terrorists and Lebanon’s Hezbollah militia. Iran can continue sowing chaos in the Middle East, not only to encourage violence against Israel but to stretch its influence in the Sunni Arab world. “As to the hostages, I would hold Iran responsible for their well-being,” Graham told Tapper, something completely impractical.
Graham urges Israel to hold Iran responsible for Hamas’s hostage taking, when Hamas is it’s own terror organization formed in 1987 by blind, wheelchair bound Sheikh Ahmed Yassin to serve as the military wing for Yasser Arafat’s Palestine Liberation Organization. Sunni Arabs living in the Holy Land have their own agenda with Israel, dating back to 1948 with the U.K. deeded Israel the British Mandate of Palestine, sovereignty held since the 1920 end of the Ottoman Empire. When Sunni Arabs lived in Holy Land under Ottoman rule for over 500 years they weren’t crying occupation. Only when the Jews received the British Mandate of Palestine did Sunn Arabs led by Arafat start revolting. Graham knows the history but urges Israel to start confronting Iran directly. If the U.S. wants to stop Iran’s state-sponsored terrorism, they need to take decisive action not Israel.
U.S. has a vested interest in containing Iran not only for Israel’s sake but for Iran’s direct involvement with Yemen’s Houthi rebels destroying commercial shipping in the Red Sea. “If I were the state of Israel, I would tell the Ayatollah, If these people do not come home alive—the ones that are left alive—and if we don’t get the bodies of the fallen, we’re going to blow up your refineries,” Graham told Tapper. How can Graham possibly think that Israel, while it battles Gaza’s Hamas terrorists and Lebanon’s Hezbollah militia, Israel should open up another war front with Iran? Graham should stick to U.S. foreign policy, not advise Israel or any other country how to proceed with other conflicts. If Biden was not bogged down in Ukraine, he could have been more helpful to Israel containing Iran’s state-sponsored terrorism, now running amok with commercial shipping in the Red Sea.
About the Author
John M. Curtis writes politically neutral commentary analyzing spin in national and global news. He’s editor of OnlineColumnist.com and author of Dodging The Bullet and Operation Charisma.
