By Bassam Tawil, GATESTONE 15 March 2024
Pictured: Biden delivers the State of the Union address in the US Capitol on March 7, 2024 in Washington, DC. (Photo by Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images)
- Biden’s reported threat to halt or suspend US military supplies to Israel if the IDF enters Rafah is what encourages Hamas to continue fighting and reject every proposal to release the hostages. When Hamas leaders hear that Biden is threatening Israel to prevent the IDF from entering Rafah, they must say to themselves: “Why should we make any concessions to Israel? America doesn’t want the Israelis to destroy the four remaining battalions. The US administration is opposed to Israel’s plan to eliminate Hamas, so let’s wait!”
- A total defeat means the elimination of all of Hamas’s battalions. An Israeli victory will never be complete as long as one, or even half, a Hamas battalion remains intact.
- Biden is actually sending a message to Hamas and Iran’s other terror proxies, including Hezbollah, Palestinian Islamic Jihad and the Houthis, that America is about to throw Israel under the bus. Cutting off US weapons supplies to Israel is the ultimate fantasy of the terrorists.
- The administration could show impressive leadership and in fact “bring this to an end as quickly as we can” — not just for Israel but for all in the region who are seeking peace — by encouraging Israel to take out the terrorists in Rafah without delay.
- Instead of pressuring Israel, Biden should be pressuring his friends in Qatar to force their Hamas puppets to hand over the Israeli hostages and surrender. Instead of threatening to cut off weapons supplies to Israel, he should be threatening the leaders of Qatar with the withdrawal of US forces from the country’s Al Udeid Air Base and to officially designate Qatar as a State Sponsor of Terrorism (for its funding of Hamas, Hizballah, ISIS, Al Qaeda, Taliban, Al Shabab, Al Nusra Front, among others).
- This is the way – the only way – to end the war quickly, as well as to send a signal to America’s adversaries looking on, that the US is prepared to uphold the values of civilization, not the values of terror.
US President Joe Biden will consider conditioning military supplies to Israel if the Israeli army moves forward with a large-scale invasion of the city of Rafah in the southern Gaza Strip, according to four US officials.
Biden has also told MSNBC that a Rafah operation would cross a “red line,” although he balanced that statement with a commitment to support Israel’s right to self-defense.
Israeli security sources have revealed that the Iran-backed Hamas terror group has at least four battalions in Rafah. Many of the Israeli hostages kidnapped by Hamas terrorists and other Palestinians on October 7, 2023, are also believed to be held in Rafah.
The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) have succeeded in destroying most of Hamas’s battalions in other areas of the Gaza Strip.
Israeli forces have dismantled 17 of Hamas’s 24 combat battalions in the Gaza Strip, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu announced on February 4.
@Sebastien
Most people are of the opinion that the pivot towards Hamas was to gain support of American Arabs in Dearborn. This, however, does not make any rational sense and never has. In fact the absurdity of this situation grows with each day, as the White House and State Dept become more and more committed to preserve Hamas, Hezebollah, and the Houthis from a destruction which their actions have clearly rendered as an absolute necessity for Israel and the free world.
Dearborn, I would argue, is not the focus of the White House in choosing these policy objectives. In fact, the illegal swamp which is now overtaking the US, in combination with routine and systematic election fraud in the face of a passive judiciary is the election model which is being pursued by the Dems, the effects of which are not just to be felt in Michigan, but throughout the entire US. Instead, I would argue that the purpose behind securing the Iranian proxies is actually Iran itself. Indeed, it is Iran which stands as the obvious common thread which links these groups, and the fact that the US has a known spy ring in place in the higher ranks of the pentagon speaks clearly to the administration’s connection to Iran, as does their pressing Israel to capitulate on the sovereignty over the Golan, which is the directive of the Hochtstein initiative masked as seeking peace. The Iranian pivot is, and always has been, the Middle East policy focus of this administration, and what is being masked as being the Dearborn initiative is nothing more than the next desperate step to secure the American pivot to Iran, irregardless of how popular it is with America’s 3.5 million Arab Americans nor how unpopular it is with the 340+ million non-Arab Americans.
Has anyone done a survey of Biden voters by state and demographic to see if cutting aid to Israel will boost his support or reduce it? He’s been playing both sides against the middle but he seems to think he would increase his chances of winning if he screws Israel. A lot of older Democrats, as well as Independents and Republicans support Israel. I don’t expect Democrats to vote for Trump but they may stay home, especially older Jewish Democrats.
Biden is an angry, deranged person.
As usual, Bassam Tawil is spot on with his report. OBiden’s policy of losing the war is not the route to target. If Hamas were to stop firing missiles on Israel and return the hostages, we could have peace now. Instead, due to OBiden’s advice, we can expect them to hold out till the last drop of Hamas blood, irrelevant of the number of civilians that suffer.
I saw in the comments that people are suggesting the use of nuclear weapons. This is not a good idea because nuclear weapons destroy not only the spot they are dropped on. The destroy a large area around the area of impact. If Israel should decide to use nuclear weapons, it can only be to cut off the head of the snake.