There is no doubt that the United States under whatever administration is Israel’s most important ally. But let’s also be honest and realize that all this talk about their being our best friend has to be taken with a pinch of salt. While military alliance and friendship are not mutually exclusive, the current policy of the US shows that in this election period, its ruling party’s political interest overrides friendship.
Anyone who follows Middle East politics is aware that the US needs Israel as much as Israel needs the US. We are its Middle East eyes and ears in every facet of intelligence. We are its forward position in the struggle against Iran’s effort to gain hegemony from the Mediterranean Sea to the Euphrates River and beyond.
The US financial aid packages for Israel’s defense are not free. They are conditioned on our obligation to spend the funds on US weapons and military technology. The advanced electronics for US-supplied fighter jets must be purchased from American manufacturers. There are no freebies, and their attitude is firm.
Current American policy on Israel is heavily influenced by the upcoming presidential election on November 5. The Democratic Party is taking advantage of the current wave of anti-Israel demonstrations, particularly by the 18 to 22-year-old first time voters. That is the underlying reason for President Joe Biden’s recent speeches demanding a ceasefire in the Gaza war, regardless of the obvious consequences for Israel.
Biden’s lead provides a tailwind supporting the anti-Israel policies of an ever-increasing number of countries. The ignorance displayed by many nations in the world about the context of the dispute between Israel and its immediate Arab neighbors is astounding. Their belief that Arab terrorism in our area can be ended by pampering them, treating them with excessive attention, and giving the terrorists what they demand has been proven to be fallacious. Israel did just that in 2005, when we pulled out of all our villages in the Gaza Strip and even exhumed our dead so that there was no Jews left there, dead or alive. Israel handed over the complete infrastructure to the Palestinian Authority (PA), which proved to be corrupt and ineffective, leading to an election in Gaza which brought Hamas to power two years later.
The international community's double standard
The international community applauded Israel’s move, and ever since then has poured millions of dollars into the Gaza Strip to help with improving the infrastructure and, with it, the standard of living of its population. I do not need to spell out what in fact the Hamas terrorist administration did with all the money, except to say that it was the opposite of what the donor countries expected. The result was October 7, 2023, and Israel’s response.
It is astounding how institutionalized antisemitism has pervaded every facet of honest reasoning by the so-called International Court of Justice (ICJ) in the assessment of those events and their consequences. Even if it were true that the food situation in Gaza is catastrophic – and that has been disproved by the number of trucks entering Gaza – it must be remembered that prior to October 7, this alleged situation neither existed nor was complained of. Everything was brought about by Hamas’s own policy and actions.
Was there ever a war in which the aggrieved party was held responsible to ensure that their enemy was well fed and supplied with basic necessities? No country would stand idly by when its population is brutally attacked and assaulted by organized terrorist thugs. The situation should be dealt with by the power of natural law, and not as the ICJ would have it, by its contrived law based on and imposed by power. Accepting and carrying out the directions of the ICJ would result in the regrouping of Hamas, ending with the fulfillment of their promise to repeat October 7. Again, and again.
Therefore, Israel has to continue its operation in Rafah until the last terrorist is either apprehended or eliminated. Neither the biased ICJ nor any other international or national entity can prevent sovereign Israel from defending itself. Nor will Israel be dictated to, regarding how Gaza shall be administered on the day after.
Israel must act in the way the Allies did after Germany’s defeat in 1945. It should install a military government in Gaza until we are satisfied that the Hamas military structure is totally destroyed and its leaders have been brought to justice. Only then can a decision be made about Gaza’s ultimate future.
The suggested alternative by Germany, to replace the terror regime of Hamas with that of the PA, which financially rewards the murderers of Jews and support their families, is preposterous. Both the US and Western Europe are justifiably outraged by the blatant human trafficking at their borders by criminal cartels. Yet I see the US active involvement in the hostage negotiations with the terrorist cartels in Gaza as nothing other than human trafficking.
The only difference is the reward demanded, which confirms my view. The terrorists will not respond to calls to release the hostages unless punitive action is taken, such as withholding funds from UNRWA, their quasi educational institute which serves as their basis and as military weapon storage facilities, as has been proven frequently. ■
The writer, who is in his 101st year, holds Guinness records for the world’s oldest working journalist and radio host.