Biden Joins the Hamas Wing of the Democratic Party

The question is why, and the answer is no big surprise.

Paul has done an excellent job covering President Biden’s double-game of trotting out ostensibly pro-Israel positions for public consumption while privately moving to scuttle Israel and advance the interests of Hamas (and hence Iran). But tonight Joe, with the indiscipline that comes with his advanced age, and without a teleprompter to keep him on his (public) message, said it out loud. As reported by CBS:

President Joe Biden said he thought there should be a humanitarian "pause" in the Israel-Hamas war, after his campaign speech Wednesday evening was interrupted by a protester calling for a cease-fire.

"I think we need a pause," Biden said.

The call was a subtle departure for Biden and top White House aides, who throughout the Mideast crisis have been steadfast in stating they will not dictate how the Israelis carry out their military operations in response to the Oct. 7 attack by Hamas.

But the president has faced intensifying pressure from human rights groups, fellow world leaders and even liberal members of his own Democratic Party, who say that the Israeli bombardment of Gaza is collective punishment and that it is time for a cease-fire.

It’s not exactly news at this point that a “humanitarian pause” in Israel’s attempt to defend its existence has only one meaning. In an earlier entry, I spelled it out: “Hey Israel, sit there and take it.” Notable in this regard is that Biden did not so much as hint about when the “pause” might end. And with ample reason: In Biden’s thinking, to use that word generously, it’s never going to end. We need time to bring in “humanitarian” relief. Time to negotiate for hostages. Time to consult with allies. Time to coordinate with the UN. Dada, dada, dada.

As Paul has explained, no one should be surprised at what CBS calls a “subtle departure” in the prior, publicly fronted policy. It’s been brewing from the get-go — indeed, well before the get-go. Recall that it was seven weeks ago, on September 12, that Biden openly encouraged Iran, and necessarily Iran’s proxies like Hamas, to take hostages by paying a fat ransom for them. This Reuters story lays it out. The ransom (of course never called by its name by the MSM) was upwards of a billion dollars per hostage.

When you’re getting a grand payoff like that, what would you do? What would you do, that is, if the only thing sitting where a conscience usually resides is hatred of the United States and hatred of Jews?

It didn’t take long — only 25 days after the ransom payment — for Iran/Hamas to give us the answer. Not that the answer is anyone’s version of a surprise. When you pay criminals, you get crime. Even Joe Biden is up to figuring out that one.

At this point, it’s fair to wonder whether Biden actually wants Iran to succeed in wiping Israel off the map. It’s possible; his strategy (if that’s the right word) can be seen as consistent with that aim, and his mentor, Barack Obama, was no friend of Israel and certainly its Prime Minister. But I’m reluctant to ascribe a motive that sinister to Biden without more and better evidence, and certainly reluctant when a less awful, though more cynical, motive suggests itself.

And what might that be?

That’s an easy one, too. Axios spills the beans in a story titled, “Biden’s approval rating among Dems drops 11 points in one month.”

President Biden's approval rating among Democrats has plummeted to a record low of 75% — down a staggering 11 percentage points over just the last month, according to a new Gallup poll conducted between Oct. 2 and Oct. 23.

Why it matters: Biden is at risk of alienating members of his own party with his unequivocal support for Israel, which has carried out a weeks-long bombardment and total siege of Gaza in response to Hamas' Oct. 7 terrorist attacks.

• An annual Gallup poll conducted in February found that Democrats sympathized more with Palestinians than Israelis for the first time in the survey's two-decade history.

• The divide is particularly stark between generations: Less than half (48%) of Gen Z and millennials believe the U.S. should publicly voice support for Israel, according to a recent NPR/PBS NewsHour/Marist poll.

Oooooooops. Biden’s polling against Trump is very close. He can’t afford any defections. He might not know much, but he knows that.

Zoom in: Biden's initial response to the Oct. 7 massacre — including his trip to Israel, request for $14 billion in military aid, and speeches decrying Hamas as "sheer evil" — drew widespread praise from supporters of Israel.

• But the president's steadfast support for the Jewish state has not translated to new political support at home, according to four national polls conducted after Oct. 10.

• Biden's approval in October's Gallup poll fell four points to match a record low of 37%, driven by his slide among Democrats and a four-point drop-off among independents (35%). His approval among Republicans remained steady at 5%.

One need not believe that President Biden is anti-Semitic or anti-Israel. One need only believe that he knows (1) that his party is increasingly both, and (2) that he needs every last one of them to turn out for him in the election a year from now.

Or to sum it up: Whether the United States stands by its closest ally, and stands with a civilized country against brutality that would make the Nazis blush, doesn’t depend on anything that might be mistaken for principle, or even hard geopolitical realities. It depends on Joe Biden’s assessment of his chances of goosing the Democratic turnout.

There are many things worth noting about this. Only one of them is what to think when you hear the lament that Donald Trump is the amoral, self-absorbed lout in this race.