Israel in danger: Enemies foreign and domestic

As Israel turns to the existential danger presented by Iran, it will need all the support it can get, both from its own people and other nations.

By Guy Millière, Gatestone Institute

September 1. The Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) announce that the bodies of six hostages, who were abducted alive by Hamas on October 7, were recovered from a tunnel in southern Gaza’s Rafah. All of them had received recent gunshot wounds to the head.

Several Israeli politicians did not incriminate Hamas. Instead, they tried to incriminate Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu — as many, both inside Israel and outside it, have been trying do since he won election two years ago.

Former Prime Minister Yair Lapid said, “Netanyahu and the ‘death cabinet’ decided not to rescue the abductees… You can’t go on like this,” and called for a general strike to shut down the economy.

In a view that is seriously disputed, he then sent a letter to Knesset Speaker Amir Ohana, saying: “Their deaths could have been avoided. It was possible to reach a deal.” Yes, a deal could have been reached — had Israel surrendered.”

“The hostages,” said former Israeli war cabinet member Benny Gantz, “must be returned, even at a very heavy price.”

The Prime Minister’s Office dryly responded, “Whoever does not contribute to the victory and the return of our hostages, it would be best not to get in the way.”

Many Israeli journalists, presumably an attempt to oust Netanyahu, have also accused him of being responsible for murders clearly carried out by Hamas.

An organization representing most of the hostages’ families, the Hostage and Missing Families Forum, issued a statement saying: “Were it not for the political maneuvers, the excuses, and the spin, the abductees whose deaths we learned about this morning would probably be alive.”

Israel’s largest union, the Histadrut, did organize the general strike Lapid had requested. On September 2, it took place. Tens of thousands of protesters took to streets across Israel to demand an immediate ceasefire.

Netanyahu, remining firm, stated: “No one is more committed to freeing the hostages than me. But no one will preach to me. Whoever murders hostages — does not want a deal.”

Although Netanyahu’s government supported his decision, Defense Minister Yoav Gallant, also seriously disputably claimed that conditions for a deal had been met.

If the IDF leaves Gaza, he argued, it could always later go back in. Once Israel withdraws, however, the price it would have to pay in the lives of its soldiers, not to mention the international pressure, would make a return effectively impossible.

No one disputes that the hostages are suffering and that families of the hostages are suffering. It is excusable if their families put the survival of their loved ones before everything else.

To follow, however, the spurious claims of irresponsible political leaders, is not excusable.

Hamas is not just an Islamic terrorist organization. It is an organization with genocidal goals. The leaders of Hamas, to their credit, make no secret of intending to wipe Israel off the map and slaughter the Jews.

They have never hidden who they are or what they want. The West, it seems, finds it inconvenient to believe them.

The barbarity of the massacre on October 7, 2023, has shown yet again that for Hamas, the lives of other people have no value – not just Jews, their own people as well.

Palestinians trying to flee to safety, or who approach a humanitarian aid truck to get food intended for them, are shot. Hamas then blames Israel for “civilian casualties,” and the Europeans happily repeat the lie.

When Israelis clamor for the release of their hostages, they are, unfortunately, just letting Hamas know what a valuable bargaining chip it has – so the price goes up.

For Hamas, if the families of the hostages succeed in getting Netanyahu pushed out of office, so much the better: he will likely be replaced by a “peace” coalition who will grant massive concessions to Hamas and allow it to stay in power.

The Biden-Harris administration also appears to want Hamas to stay in power because that is what Hamas’s patrons, Iran and Qatar (America’s supposed ally) want.

The Obama administration came up with the notion that a strong Iran could “balance” the influence of Saudi Arabia in the Middle East. Saudi Arabia, though, while not perfect, has never tried to take over its neighbors.

The Biden-Harris administration brought Iran from being a severely sanctioned state that could not pay its militias, to a war machine with more than $300 billion at its disposal, according to former Director of National Intelligence John Ratcliffe.

The windfall from the Biden-Harris administration’s refusal to enforce sanctions was what enabled Iran’s regime to launch its war on Israel with its proxies Hamas, Hezbollah and the Houthis, advance its nuclear weapons program and, just since October 2023, to launch more than 160 attacks on US troops, presumably to drive them out of the region.

Meanwhile, back in Gaza, the Associated Press reports, “Sinwar wants to end the war — but only on his terms.”

These terms include a complete Israeli withdrawal from the Gaza Strip, including the “Philadelphi Corridor” border between Egypt and Gaza.

That is where immense cross-border underground tunnels are located, allowing the resumption of unlimited supplies of new weapons to be smuggled to Hamas in Gaza, as well as the ideal gateway for Hamas leader Sinwar to escape to Egypt’s Sinai Peninsula — with the remaining Israeli hostages in tow.

In August, Sinwar reportedly insisted “that his life be spared as a condition for a deal. When the Israelis offered him safe passage — in exchange for the hostages — he refused.

“Sinwar,” wrote David Greenfield, CEO and executive director of Met Council, “wants everyone to be a martyr—except for him.” Now he appears to want to have discussions again on the condition that the Israelis will not try to kill him during the negotiations on a deal.

For Hamas and Sinwar, the bottom line for is to stay in power to be able to attack Israel “time and again until it is annihilated,” as one of its officials, Ghazi Hamad, straightforwardly said.

As far as the Biden-Harris administration is concerned, a new Israeli prime minister it hand-picks to replace Netanyahu would presumably agree to US demands to let the Palestinians in Gaza set up a sovereign terrorist state on Israel’s border, from which to continue attacking Israel until it is destroyed.

A new prime minister installed by the Biden-Harris administration would also agree to Iran having as many nuclear weapons as it likes.

Iran, after finishing off Israel, which Iran’s former President Ali Akhbar Hashemi Rafsanjani called a “one-bomb country,” could then resume trying to take over its oil-rich neighbors, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates.

Israel’s opposition political leaders, journalists, trade unionists, and many senior security officials all appear to be walking into a trap that Hamas has laid out for them: having Israeli anti-government demonstrators demand new elections to force Netanyahu out and a US puppet — agreeable to terrorist Palestinian state, Hamas’s continued rule in Gaza, and a nuclear-armed Iran — in.

In November 2023, after immense Israeli military pressure, Hamas released a few dozen hostages, mostly women and children, to get a four-day ceasefire and the release of hundreds of Palestinian terrorists imprisoned in Israel.

The 101 hostages who remain, 31 of whom are reportedly dead, are simply a means for Hamas to get more: a complete Israeli withdrawal from the Gaza Strip, the release of hundreds more Arab terrorists ready to murder again, oh and a new condition: Sinwar, would like safe passage out of Gaza and the guarantee not to be killed while negotiating, and conceivably after that.

Hamas, remember, never offered to release all the hostages, only a few, alive or dead. Sinwar will undoubtedly try to string out the negotiations as long as he can – refusing to provide hostage names again, and so on.

His job will be to keep as many hostages as long as possible, to buy time for Hamas to resupply and regroup.

For months, Hamas has rejected any agreement, and blamed Netanyahu. They have, of course, been helped by the Biden-Harris administration, which snubbed Netanyahu at the airport in Washington DC in July as well as at his address to the United States Congress.

The snubs evidently only succeeded in giving Hamas the impression that the US was done with Netanyahu, that a Hamas victory was in the bank, and that all Iran and its proxies had to do was sit back and wait.

For months, Hamas has rejected every agreement: its leaders apparently think that the pressure on Netanyahu and his government by the Biden-Harris administration would win their war for them. Hamas has now seen that murdering hostages results in even more pressure for Israel to surrender.

Netanyahu tried to warn those protesting his government:

“We’re asked to make concessions? What message does this send Hamas? It says, ‘Kill more hostages, murder more hostages! You’ll get more concessions! The pressure internationally must be directed at these killers, at Hamas, not at Israel.”

The Biden-Harris administration has, in fact, been funding Israel’s anti-government protests since Netanyahu was elected two years ago, to try to oust him.

Shortly after the October 7, 2023 invasion by Hamas, the Biden-Harris administration continually pressured Israel to make concessions and withheld or slow-walked weapons shipments, but never applied even the slightest pressure on Hamas, Iran, or the major funder of all Islamic terrorist groups, Qatar.

In Gaza, a document written to Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar and found on a captured computer belonging to him was published by the German magazine, Bild, confirms Hamas’s present strategy: “pressure on the enemy government” must increase.

The document also confirms that Hamas wants not only a total withdrawal of the Israeli army from Gaza, but that the withdrawal is permanent. Hamas, one can assume, is aware that this is also what the Biden-Harris administration wants.

Gaza would then rearm to the teeth, with Hamas having bragged that it is the only organization ever to “defeat” Israel. Hamas’s reputation, in the eyes of all other terrorist groups, would be unmatched.

In the meantime, Iran appears to be gearing up to take over Sudan. Such an acquisition would complete the regime’s “ring of fire” — a multi-front war encircling Israel.

Since October 8, 2023, Hezbollah, which has vastly more weapons than Hamas ever did — many of which are precision-guided — has launched thousands of rockets, missiles and attack drones into Israel, on a daily basis.

Instead of making serious demands on those who initiated the conflict — Iran, Qatar, Hamas, Hezbollah, Palestinian Islamic Jihad and the Houthis — the Biden-Harris administration has been urging Israel to give over up sovereign territory to Lebanon, as well as offshore gas fields in the Mediterranean Sea, to “appease Iran at Israel’s expense.”

Israel has now eliminated almost all of Hezbollah’s leaders, including chief Hassan Nasrallah and his two successors, and has destroyed countless weapons caches and rocket launchers.

Hezbollah’s capabilities are significantly reduced, but its terrorists can still do harm. Roughly 80,000 Israeli inhabitants of cities, towns and villages in the Galilee are still unable to return to their homes.

In the West Bank, unrest has been intensifying for months. The Israeli military has conducted massive counter-terror operations in and around Jenin, Nablus, Tulkarm and other cities in Judea and Samaria.

Foreign Minister Israel Katz stated as early as August that “Iran is trying to establish an eastern terrorist front against Israel in the West Bank by smuggling weapons from Jordan and financing terrorists.”

On October 1, Iran for the second time attacked Israel directly from Iranian soil, with a salvo of at least 181 ballistic missiles, many of which were intercepted. The Iranian regime has not given up on its plans for “Death to Israel”. Iran’s nuclear weapons program is near breakout.

Yemen’s Iran-backed Houthi regime continues to fire drones and missiles into Israel. On September 29, Israel again retaliated by bombing targets in Yemen’s port city of Hodeidah, on the Red Sea.

In the US, elections are just a few weeks away. The policy pursued by the Biden-Harris administration appears to favor Hamas and Iran.

Initially, the administration had helped Israel; then as Hamas, which initiated the war, portrayed itself as the victim, the US, with an eye on pro-Hamas, anti-Israel voters the US Midwest, slowed arms deliveries and refused to deliver some weapons to Israel that would have allowed it to defeat Hamas without prolonging the war.

An earlier dazzling offense by Israel, as we are seeing now, might have induced Hamas to release more hostages and saved many lives – both Israeli and Palestinian.

By allowing Iran to acquire tens of billions of dollars from Qatar and the US, the Biden-Harris administration at this point appears bear some responsibility for Hamas’s actions, including the October 7 massacre, as well as, since 2021, Iran’s increased funding of Hezbollah and the Houthis.

Worse, this week the Biden-Harris administration announced that it is sending Lebanon an additional $157 million – for “humanitarian relief.” In Hezbollah-speak, that means funding for more weapons to attack Israel.

Does anyone really think that the battered Lebanese people will see a cent? This bounty brings the Biden-Harris administration’s prize money for Hezbollah’s war machine to $385 million — all of which will most certainly be diverted to attacking Israel.

In the US, meanwhile, there is no more money from the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) for victims of Hurricanes Helene and Milton — $20 million. For the victims of Hurricane Helene, some of whom have had lost everything, disaster relief, according to the White House:

“FEMA assistance in Florida, North Carolina, and South Carolina may include a one-time $750 payment to help with essential items like food, water, baby formula and other emergency supplies. After registering for disaster assistance, individuals may also qualify to receive disaster-related financial assistance to repair storm-related damage to homes and replace personal property, as well as assistance to find a temporary place to stay.”

But how are families supposed to apply if the electrical grid and communications systems are down? When a private citizen, Elon Musk, generously tried to supply Starlink terminals, the US government originally tried to block it.

On October 2, Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas warned that FEMA “doesn’t have enough money to last through the hurricane season.”

Where did all that emergency rescue money go? According to White House press secretary Karine Jean Pierre, speaking in 2022, significant funds seem to have gone to NGOs for the food and housing of illegal migrants.

Fortunately, the Biden-Harris administration still has an additional $157 million to send Hezbollah-controlled Lebanon.

After Iran’s October 1 missile attack on Israel, President Joe Biden said: “the United States is fully, fully, fully supportive of Israel” — but carefully added that Israel had to adopt a measured approach and that he opposed an Israeli strike on Iran’s nuclear sites.

Vice President Kamala Harris has repeatedly called for a rapid ceasefire in Gaza – meaning the survival of Hamas – and said that a “two-state solution is the only path forward” — meaning, undoubtedly, a terrorist Palestinian state.

During the pro-Hamas protests that swept through American universities last spring, Harris told the magazine The Nation that protesters showed “exactly what the human emotion should be, as a response to Gaza”.

By choosing not to attend Netanyahu’s speech to Congress, she signaled to Hamas, Qatar and Iran whose side she was on. After meeting with Netanyahu the next day, she held a sour, anti-Israel press conference, and repeated bogus Hamas claims about Gazan starvation.

Hamas’s warehouses in Gaza are in fact full; the only people starving are the Israeli hostages.

So far, Harris has been mostly in line with the Biden administration on Iran, yet she said on October 7 that she considered Iran — not China — America’s biggest enemy, but she did not say what she might do about that.

If Harris wins the November 5 election, it is possible , based on her having snubbed Netanyahu in Washington, and based on the people with whom she has surrounded herself, that her administration’s policy would be similar to, or possibly even worse, than that of the Biden administration.

After Biden said that he would not support an Israeli strike on Iran’s nuclear sites, former President Donald Trump — who has been called “the most pro-Israel president in American history” — responded:

“They [reporters] asked him [Biden], ‘What do you think about Iran? Would you hit Iran?’ And he goes, ‘As long as they don’t hit the nuclear stuff.’

“That’s the thing you want to hit right? I said I think he’s got that wrong, isn’t that the one you’re supposed to hit? It’s the biggest risk we have, nuclear weapons, the power of nuclear weapons. When they asked him that question the answer should have been, ‘Hit the nuclear first and worry about the rest later.'”

European leaders, for the most part, have been holding positions unfavorable to Israel. While saying “We will continue, of course, to defend Israel’s right to defend itself,” British Prime Minister Keith Starmer recently decided to freeze arms deliveries to Israel.

In France, President Emmanuel Macron admitted that he was horrified by the deaths of the Israeli hostages but immediately added that “the catastrophic human suffering in Gaza must lead to an immediate ceasefire,” apparently without giving half-a-thought as to what that would actually mean on the ground.

On September 10, Josep Borrel, the EU’s High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy, did not say a word about Israeli hostages, either in the hands of Hamas or murdered, and announced that Israeli actions in Gaza were “a massive violation of human rights”.

Even when European leaders condemned Iran’s strike on Israel, they immediately called for a ceasefire — a way of telling Israel not to retaliate.

The International Court of Justice (ICJ) recently announced that it “needed more time” to find human rights violations in Israel’s “most moral army in history.” The ICJ seems to be hoping that if they wait long enough, a few violations might turn up.

When, however, has Israel ever been able to count on any support from the UN or Europe? Most European countries have been strenuously undermining Israel for decades.

A drive south from Jerusalem, shows literally more than 5,500 illegal Arab structures on Israeli land — just in one year, 2022 — many with signs boasting funding from the European Union.

EU member countries have never stopped trading with Iran or seemed ruffled by Iran’s nuclear program or its constant threats to wipe out other countries.

Misinterpreting Israel’s present situation — on the part of Israeli opposition leaders, journalists, and security officials, as well as UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer and German Chancellor Olaf Scholz — is breathtakingly irresponsible

If the Biden-Harris administration really cares about bringing the hostages home – including four American hostages – and about ending the war quickly, it could, instead of putting all its efforts into trying to oust Netanyahu, begin exacting a serious price from the West’s Middle Eastern enemies — as Israel has been doing in Gaza and Lebanon. It is called deterrence.

“No one ever said it better than Osama bin Laden,” New York Times columnist Thomas Friedman wrote: “When people see a strong horse and a weak horse, by nature they will like the strong horse.”

“I sent him a picture of his house,” Trump related about the Taliban co-founder Abdul Ghani Baradar. “He said, ‘But why but why do you send me a picture of my house?’ I said, ‘You have to figure that one out.'”

As Israel turns to the existential danger presented by Iran, it will need all the support it can get, both from its own people and other nations. If they are smart, they will give it.

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