Joe Biden and Hamas' attack on Israel

Today’s attack on Israel by Hamas was funded, in part, by the Biden administration. Last year, the Biden State Department bragged that, since 2021, the U.S. has “provided over half a billion dollars in assistance for the Palestinians, including more than $417 million in humanitarian assistance for Palestinian refugees through UNRWA, $75 million in support through USAID, and $20.5 million in COVID and Gaza recovery assistance.”

Because Hamas controls Gaza, it is free to use any money that comes there, including “Gaza recovery assistance” funds, for military purposes, and/or to divert money that, absent our aid, would be spent on “recovery” to the military.

In addition to aiding Hamas with U.S. taxpayer dollars, the Biden administration has enriched Hamas’ main backer — Iran. A few weeks ago, the administration agreed to release $6 billion in frozen Iranian oil revenue. Team Biden claimed that the money could be used only for humanitarian purposes, but that fig leaf fell to the floor when Iran made it clear, once the deal closed, that it would use the revenue as it sees fit.

I agree with Ron DeSantis who says:

Iran has helped fund this war against Israel and Joe Biden’s policies that have gone easy on Iran [have] helped to fill their coffers. Israel is now paying the price for those policies.

Is Joe Biden hostile to Israel or clueless? Probably both.

As further evidence that Biden is probably both, I’ll cite the administration’s initial comment on the Hamas attack, issued by Biden’s U.S. Office of Palestinian Affairs:

We unequivocally condemn the attacks of Hamas terrorists and the loss of life that has occurred. We urge all sides to refrain from violence and retaliatory attacks. Terror and violence solve nothing.

The administration thus urged Israel to turn the other cheek while terrorists rampaged through its towns and murdered its citizens.

The administration deleted this post. Yet, I believe it shows the Biden administration’s true attitude towards the situation in Israel — that Israel must tolerate terrorist attacks by Hamas and other terrorists in the name of the “peace process” or whatever.

I expect that once Israel turns back this attack and pushes to the Gaza border, Biden will urge “restraint” and perhaps warn against a “disproportionate response” to the Hamas attacks.

“Restraint” should be a non-starter, but I agree that Israel’s response should be “proportionate” in this sense. Hamas has thrown everything it has against Israel without mercy or regard for the lives of women and children. In response, Israel should throw everything it can (given the need to protect other parts of the country) against Hamas and not be constrained by concerns about killing Gaza residents.

In addition, I believe Israel needs to think seriously about a military response to Iran. It’s nearly certain that the Iranians had an important role in Hamas’ attack. If Hezbollah attacks from the North, it will certainly be an Iranian proxy operation.

If Iran’s role in the aggression is clear, Israel should consider attacking Iran. Ideally, it would attack Iran’s nuclear program. That might not be feasible, but I think some form of strong military action against Iran is needed.

Iran is Israel’s last remaining strong enemy state in the region. Israel’s main non-state enemies rely on Iran (though as discussed, the Biden administration chips in). For Israel to have true security, it must find a way to neutralize Iran.

Or so it seems to me.