After President Biden’s failure last week to veto a U.N. resolution calling for a cease-fire in Gaza, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu cancelled a visit by an Israeli delegation scheduled to meet with Biden in D.C. to discuss the planned invasion of the Hamas-infested city of Rafah in Gaza. Biden’s cowardly decision to abstain from voting allowed the resolution, backed by China, Russia, Iran, North Korea, and many other dangerous enemies of both the U.S. and Israel, to pass.
In response to Biden’s cowardice, Prime Minister Netanyahu said that this is “a clear departure from the consistent U.S. position” in the Security Council since the beginning of the war. This withdrawal damages both the war effort and the effort to release the hostages because it “gives Hamas hope that international pressure will force Israel to accept a cease-fire without the release of our hostages.” (Wall Street Journal, 03-26-24).
As described by the Wall Street Journal, this past week “the U.S. withheld its veto and abstained as the U.N. Security Council passed a resolution that demanded a cease-fire in Gaza but didn’t make the cease-fire contingent on Hamas releasing its 134 hostages. That condition, on which the U.S. had previously insisted, has been dropped.” (WSJ, 3-26-24). In fact, the Biden Administration position has weakened so much that “Mr. Biden’s initial support for destroying Hamas has faded, such that Vice President Kamala Harris now refuses to rule out ‘consequences’ should Israel invade Hamas’s last stronghold of Rafah.”
This feckless move by Biden is not surprising because, since Hamas’s Oct. 7 massacre of some 1,400 Israelis, we’ve seen President Biden equivocate about, and retreat from, his original robust support of Israel. This change is in no small part due to pressure from the Lunatic Left of the national Democratic Party that screams for Israel, whom it vilifies as an “occupier,” to agree to a ceasefire and end the war while Hamas still controls Gaza. It would be perilous for Israel to do so.
Let’s have some context:
We note that international calls for the annihilation of Israel, and generalized hatred of Jews, have increased exponentially. Polling in the U.S. reflects that while Jews make up around 2 percent of the U.S. population, according to FBI data, reported antisemitic hate crime incidents accounted for 9.6 percent of all hate crimes. (Anti-Defamation League ((ADL)) 10-16-2023 citing FBI statistics).
Let’s also recall that in his State of the Union address Pres. Biden promised the families of U.S. hostages held by Hamas that “we will not rest until we bring their loved ones home.” Well, that pledge has now been weakened at the United Nations.
A brief comparison between President Trump’s defense of Israel and Biden’s attack on Israel through his support for Iran, Israel’s mortal enemy, is clear and dangerous.
Trump ended U.S. support for the Iran nuclear deal that madly gave billions of U.S. dollars to the terrorist regime in Tehran— which our US State Department has concluded is the foremost worldwide sponsor of terrorism—funds which pay for Iran’s global campaign of terrorism and its development of nuclear bombs to threaten Israel, the entire Middle East, and ultimately, the U.S. mainland.
Trump also honored a campaign pledge to move the U.S. embassy to Jerusalem and to officially establish Jerusalem as the capital of Israel in the view of the U.S. government. Trump’s diplomatic efforts also led to the Abraham Accords—the first peace treaties between Israel and its Arab neighbors since 1994—for which Trump was nominated for the Nobel Prize for Peace due to the enormous advance the Accords represent in isolating Iran and limiting its global campaign of terror—of which America is a prime target!
The danger here is really far greater than an intolerable neglect of Israel itself. It’s that the whole world is watching America. This includes our mortal enemies China, Iran, Russia, and N. Korea, as well as the numerous terrorist groups whose very charters call for the annihilation of Israel. They scrutinize our every move and absence of movement when it is called for from which they will draw conclusions regarding the likely success of further attacks upon Israel as well as any other nation or people in the world about whom they harbor predatory intentions.
This is what weakness and ineptness look like. America has no more loyal friend or ally in the region—or perhaps the world—than Israel and it cannot hesitate or waver in its cause.
Shreveport attorney, Royal Alexander, worked in D.C. in the U.S. House of Representatives for nearly 8 years for two different Members of Congress from Louisiana.