Defending Israel’s right to self-defense, 78-year-old President Joe Biden distanced himself from the all-too-familiar skirmish with Hamas which, periodically, starts firing missiles into Israel, causing widespread destruction to the already dilapidated Gaza Strip. Hamas shows it’s the tough-little-rooster going up against Goliath Israel, winning plaudits from its down-trodden population, looking for a fight with Israel. Hamas tells Gaza residents that one day they’ll conquer Israel, building up hopes to one day return to paradise by evicting Jews from the Holy Land. Hamas’s 54-year-old leader Ismail Haniyeh routinely brainwashes Hamas residents into believing they’re one tunnel or rocket away from conquering Israel. Unlike the 85-year-old West Bank-based Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas, Hanijyeh’s willing to go it alone to fulfill the Hamas promise of destroying Israel.
U.S., U.N. and European Union [EU] officials have a real problem with an Israeli-Palestinian peace when 50% of the Palestinian population is divided between Gaza and the West Bank. U.S., U.N. and EU peace efforts have all gone through the PA, once preceded by the late Yasser Arafat’s Palestine Liberation Oraganzation [PLO]. Arafat tried but failed to deliver Mideast peace, largely because of opposition from Hamas. Hamas’s latest rocket war with Israel proves, beyond any doubt, that the PA is no longer in control the Palestinian people, more aligned today with Hamas’s radical view that Israel must be destroyed. So, Biden’s laissez faire approach signals that he’s not ready to wade into the current shooting war. “I had a conversation with Bibi Netanyahu not so long ago. I’ll be putting out a statement very shortly on that,” Biden told reports at the House, affirming Israel’s right to self-defense.
Biden has not dealt with Iran’s ongoing proxy war against Israel, supplying arms-and-cash to Hamas terrorists in Gaza to fight and win its proxy war with Israel. While Iran continues to supply arms-and-cash to Yemen’s Houthi rebels to fight its proxy war against Saudi Arabia, Biden, and his 58-year-old Secretary of State Tony Blinken, haven’t figured out what to do with Iran. Biden and Blinken have tried to jump back into the July 15, 2015 Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action AKA “The Iranian Nuke Deal,” to restart the Nuke Deal cancelled by former President Donald Trump May 8, 2018, precisely because of Iran’s proxy wars with Saudi Arabia and Israel. Watching rockets flying from Gaza, Biden and Blinken haven’t made the obvious link between Hamas’s rocket war and Iran’s proxy war with Israel. Republicans let Biden know that they stand 100% behind Israel.
Hamas’s latest rocket war with Israel repeats the exact same pattern going on every five years over the last 15 years. When they run out of cash to pay civil servants, they start shooting rockets at Israel, designed to decimate the Gaza Strip, then begging rich Arab Gulf States to bail them out with fresh billions in cash. Arab Gulf states have grown weary of the old Hamas pattern, running Gaza into the ground, blaming it on Israel, then starting a new war to create more destruction. “Israel must know that their friends and allies in the United States stand with them. We support Israel’s right to peace and security. We support their goal of restoring deterrence,” Sen. Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky. tweeted. Biden and Blinken haven’t figured out what to do with Iran, who’s supplied Hamas with cash, rockets and guided missiles with which to wipe Israel off the map, a promise of the Islamic Republic.
Whether the Biden administration deals with it now or later, they must deal with Tehran’s proxy wars against Saudi Arabia and Israel before jumping back into the JCPOA. Reducing Iran’s uranium enrichment does nothing to stop Iran’s covert state-sponsored terrorism feeding Yemen’s Houthi rebels and Hamas terrorists more arms with which to fight proxy wars. Republicans like Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) weren’t happy when Biden restored $253 million in aid the Palestinian Authority. Trump cut off aid to the PA after they violently protested after he moved the U.S. embassy to Jerusalem in 2018. “I am deeply troubled by recent decisions from the Biden administration to turn a blind-eye to behavior by the Palestinian Authority,” Graham said in a statement. Graham thought that the U.S. should receive assurances from the PA about peace talks before taking U.S. aid.
Biden finds himself in a deep foreign policy hole of his own making, alienating Russia and China, putting both countries on a war footing. When it comes to the Mideast, the stakes are much less for U.S. national security because Israel’s perfectly capable to handling Hamas or any other terrorist group. But when it comes to Russia and China, there’s just no excuse for Biden calling Russian President Vladimir Putin March 16 a “soulless killer,” then expecting Putin to cooperate on Ukraine or anywhere else. Biden and Blinken accused China of committing genocide on Muslim Uyhurs in Xinjiang province, infuriating Chinese President Xi Jinping, who’s proceeded to intimidate Taiwan and pro-democracy protesters in Hong Kong. Biden and Blinken started out on the wrong foot with Russia and China, now find themselves embroiled in a Mideast crisis that doesn’t help global security.
