President Joe Biden’s recent foreign policy moves are baffling. By any rational standard, they are undermining Israel and helping Hamas.
When Biden was caught on an open microphone following his State of the Union Address telling Democrat Sen. Michael Bennet of Colorado that Biden and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu were “going to have a come to Jesus meeting,” you have to wonder what he’s thinking.
It was a weird comment for two reasons. First, it is unlikely the leader of the Jewish state will have a “come to Jesus moment.” (Maybe a come to Moses or Abraham moment – but not a come to Jesus moment.) I have known Netanyahu since the 1980s. I am confident he was amused rather than intimidated by Biden’s comment.
Second, the American President cannot dictate to the Prime Minister of Israel. Israel is a sovereign country. Furthermore, its entire history has been a series of heroic victories in which it had to rely on its own courage and ingenuity to provide for its peoples’ security. The United States has historically been an ally of Israel (although in Suez Crisis of 1956, we intervened decisively against an Israeli victory). But the United States can only advise – it cannot dictate.
President Biden grandly announced that an Israeli occupation of the city of Rafah would cross a red line. Of course, we remember President Barack Obama’s famous red line about the Syrian use of chemical weapons, which disappeared the minute Syria used the chemical weapons.
Netanyahu responded clearly to Biden’s threat. He told Politico’s parent company, Axel Springer, “We’ll go there. We’re not going to leave… You know, I have a red line. You know what the red line is, that Oct. 7 doesn’t happen again.”
At that point, President Biden’s red line faded just like Obama’s. Biden said on MSNBC, “It is a red line, but I’m never going to leave Israel.”
Even Netanyahu's political opponents in Israel know invading Rafah is a requirement of lasting peace. Israeli War Cabinet member Benny Gantz explained, “Finishing the war without demilitarizing Rafah is like sending in firefighters to put out 80% of a fire.”
The case for totally destroying Hamas is overwhelming. Hamas’ official founding document calls for the complete destruction of Israel. One of its most important leaders said publicly, “not a single Jew will remain.” Hamas has run a terrorist state which stole enough construction materials from the people of Gaza to build 300 miles of tunnels (the stolen material was reportedly meant to build hospitals and homes).
Hamas has proven its willingness to use the people of Gaza as human shields behind which it protects its key leaders and military assets. The number of dead and wounded in Gaza since Oct. 7 has been a function of Hamas’ willingness to sacrifice its own people to build a humanitarian outcry against Israel.
Tragically, the Biden administration and much of the American news media accept the case set up by Hamas’ ruthlessness and focus their attention on the Israelis. The fact is: This is an urban war that Hamas started. In urban warfare, civilian deaths are unavoidable. The news media’s anti-Israel, antisemitic bias leads it to accept the Hamas propaganda.
As Richard Goldberg wrote, “Biden should draw red lines for Hamas not for Israel.”
Biden’s proposal for Israel to stay out of Rafah would effectively create a sanctuary city for Hamas terrorists. It would be an irrational act which guaranteed the survival of those whose goal is the complete destruction of Israel. The conflict would remain endless.
When Ayatollah Ali Khamenei and the Iranian Parliament chant, “Death to America, Death to Israel.” They mean it. We know because the Ayatollah went on national television and pledged to the Iranian people that these words were not a slogan – but a policy.
The seriousness of Hamas’ desire to destroy Israel is captured in its map-making. As Louis Rene Beres wrote in jurist.org on Dec. 23, 2023:
“Unhidden, both the Arab world and Iran still have only a 'One-State Solution' for the 'Israel Problem.' It is a 'solution' that eliminates Israel altogether, a physical solution, a 'Final Solution.' Even today, official Arab maps of 'Palestine' (PNA and Hamas) show the prospective Arab State comprising all of the West Bank (Judea/Samaria), all of Gaza and all of Israel. They knowingly exclude any references to a Jewish population and list 'holy sites' of Christians and Muslims only."
President Biden should be firmly on the side of Israel and civilization – and against Hamas’ barbarism, terrorism, and genocide.
Sadly, he is failing that test.
For more commentary from Newt Gingrich, visit Gingrich360.com. Also, subscribe to the Newt’s World podcast.
