The obligatory prefatory recitation. We don’t like Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and considered his March 3, 2015 address to Congress a monumental breach of diplomatic norms, ingratitude incarnate and astoundingly ham-handed (irony intended). His government’s interference with the sound equipment at Al-Aqsa during Ramadan, that disturbed the call to prayer, is as vile and antithetical to Jewish ethical teaching as anything we’ve witnessed during Israel’s lifetime, which roughly coincides with ours.
Pramila Jayapal
Hamas, the governing authority in Gaza, having been elected as such by Palestinians in their 2006 legislative elections and the ensuing 2007 “Battle of Gaza” between Fatah and Hamas, pretextually responded to the sectarian affront by firing thousands of rockets from Gaza into Israel. Missiles supplied them by Iran. This is the truly disproportionate response, not as The Squad (Ilhan Omar, Rashida Tlaib, Ayanna Pressley, Alexandrea Ocasio-Cortez) claim Israel’s far more precise action is. It is designed to destroy as much of Hamas’ terror infrastructure as possible. Hamas’ terror materiel has been woven around civilian homes, hospitals and schools, to use civilians as human shields, because Hamas does not want to prevent attacks. It wants to make sure there will be a daily supply of martyrs when Israel responds. Hamas has been designated a “terrorist organization” by the European Union, Canada, Japan, Australia, the United Kingdom and New Zealand, but not by China, Russia, Syria nor Iran. Palestinians in Gaza rejected the Fatah-led Palestinian National Authority, which governs in the West Bank, for a terrorist organization. The Squad and other irredentist House Democrats like Pramila Jayapal are Hamas assets in the same way and manner that Hillary Clinton accurately described Representative Tulsi Gabbard as being a “Russian asset.” An asset unlike an “agent” may not know it and isn’t getting paid, but nevertheless doing the work. In this case they’re doing it well.
The Hamas terror network, elected by the Palestinian people, is not the protector of Islam’s holy sites, and especially not those in Jerusalem like Al Aqsa or those in the West Bank where their mortal enemy Fatah governs. And certainly not the holiest sites situated in Saudi Arabia, because as Iran’s surrogate Hamas is not only at war with Israel and the United States, but also at war with Saudi Arabia where the holy cities of Mecca and Medina are ruled and protected by its government. For Hamas terror is an end in itself and acting along with its sister terror network Hezbollah, chaos, terror and the manufacture of martyrs is their modus operandi. Hezbollah rockets from Lebanon are now landing in Israel.
Benjamin Netanyahu
One thing Bibi has going for him is that most Israelis don’t pay much mind to what The Squad thinks, especially to Representative Omar of the “it’s all about the Benjamins Baby” nor the “warm feeling” that Tlaib gets knowing that Holocaust survivors stole her ancestors’ land and passports, as she has stated. Israelis don’t care much about any of them, nor indeed what J Street thinks. The streets they care about and should are those in Israeli cities, towns and villages where rockets landed after evading Israel’s Iron Dome anti-missile defense. Virtually any American living in one of those communities would reject The Squad’s assertion that because far fewer people in Israel have died than in Gaza, Israeli attacks on the Hamas terror infrastructure are disproportionate and must immediately cease.
Nancy Pelosi
So far Biden and Blinken have responded appropriately. Their much dissected and analyzed escalation of demands to cease fire are a carefully timed and choreographed dance routine in which the administration has not merely acquiesced in the continuation of Israel’s response but actually has wanted it to continue up to a point reached right about now. They understand what Morning Joe said the other day, to the effect that a single rocket landing in the U.S. would result in the U.S. going to war. We did that in Afghanistan after September 11, 2001 and bombed Iraq back to the stone age before they fired a single shot at us. Israelis recognize that Hamas is Iran’s proxy against not only them but the U.S. as well. Much is made of U.S. aid and armaments for Israel. But in the last three decades Israel has given as much as it has gotten. It is among our most important strategic and technological allies.
Sean Maloney
Despite Biden’s resounding victories in both “colleges” and the Democrats modest but crucial gains in the Senate, they lost 10 seats in the House against all odds. Republicans found a wedge issue in The Squad-led “defund the police” jamboree, where The Squad even clashed with Bernie Sanders and accused President Obama of hypocrisy.
If The Squad and Company facilitate the branding of Democrats as the party of “defund Israel” Nancy Pelosi and Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee Chair Representative Sean Maloney can put their tray tables up, place their razor thin House majority and their heads between their legs and kiss both and their asses goodbye. If wise, they will adopt and adapt the Israeli promise of “Never Again.”
This is an important and nuanced analysis by someone whose reputation is not as a foreign affairs expert. I fully concur.