My column for the Washington County Daily News is online and in print. Here’s you go.
International affairs are inherently complicated with cross-currents of cultures, economies, religion, and philosophies in the deep ocean of history. The current war in the Gaza Strip in Israel, however, in a moment of moral clarity on which President Joe Biden and Senator Tammy Baldwin are demonstrating moral bankruptcy.
The fighting in the Middle East dates back to the very dawn of human civilization as a resource-rich and trading nexus of the ancient and modern world. The current war’s roots, however, are very modern.
When Israel came into its modern existence in 1948, the area known as the Gaza Strip was Egyptian territory and remained so for nearly 20 years. In 1967, a coalition of Egypt, Syria, and Jordan launched an unprovoked war against Israel that became known as the Six-Day War. Israel overwhelmingly won that war and seized the Gaza Strip, West Bank, and Golan Heights as the spoils of war and as a security buffer.
The Gaza Strip has been a part of Israel since 1967. In 2005, bowing to international pressure, Israel gave the Gaza Strip to the Gazans for them to self-govern and withdrew all forces, although Israel maintained border security for and with the Gaza Strip.
Promptly in 2006, the Gazans elected Hamas, an Islamist terrorist organization supported by Iran, to govern the Gaza Strip. Since 2006, Hamas has regularly launched rockets and small-scale attacks into Israel. Hamas has enjoyed widespread support by the Gazans for nearly 20 years.
On Oct. 7, 2023, Hamas launched a bloody attack across the border killing about 1,200 people of all ages and genders, and they took over 250 people back to Gaza as hostages. It was a bloody, bigoted, indiscriminate attack against civilians including babies and grandmothers. As bloody bodies were paraded through the streets in Gaza, the Gazans cheered. This is not the case of an unwelcome totalitarian government ruling over an innocent population. This is the case of a government acting with the overwhelming majority of their citizens supporting their barbarity.
Israel responded the same way I hope America would if the people of Tijuana attacked San Diego and butchered women and children. Israel fought back to eliminate the hostile threat while taking extraordinary measures to limit civilian deaths. The fact that some civilians are being killed is the direct result of Hamas’ policy to use them as human shields.
This is not a complicated war. Hamas is an Islamist terror group that is wantonly killing civilians from their power base and then hiding behind their own citizens when Israel pushes back. To support anything other than Israel’s right and duty to rid the world of Hamas is to support the perpetuation of hate, bigotry, murder, and terror.
Yet, that is where we find President Biden and Senator Baldwin. As always, we must watch what they do — not what they say. Biden has attempted to split the baby with his rhetoric vacillating between powerful support for Israel and appeasement to Hamas. His actions, however, lean heavily in favor of Hamas.
Biden has been calling for a ceasefire without the precondition of releasing all of the hostages which only benefits Hamas. Biden has condemned Israel for civilian casualties despite Israel’s extraordinary efforts to keep them to a minimum while Hamas pushes civilians into the fray. Last week, Biden unilaterally halted the shipment of ammunition to Israel and has threatened to halt more shipments if Israel moves to root out Hamas in their last remaining stronghold in Rafah.
Hamas never had a greater ally than President Biden.
Meanwhile, Senator Baldwin is in lock-step with Biden and Hamas providing rhetorical and legislative support whenever they need it. Baldwin has always been a loyal vote of support for whatever the Democrat leadership wants. This case is no different.
In a moment of crystal clear moral clarity, Biden and Baldwin have put themselves on the wrong side of history.
>As always, we must watch what they do — not what they say.
Not only have the Biden puppeteers withheld shipment of contracted munitions to Israel, but they have issued arms sales waivers to Qatar, Lebanon, and Iraq. The negotiation delays are buying Hamas time. The waivers resupply Hamas and the other assorted MB entities with new munitions. This misguided attempt at leveling merely perpetuates the bloodbath. Fools.
Hey black people of America, the Biden Democrats and all their voters are supporting racism, discrimination and a policy of genocide, still going to lockstep vote for them in November? They are the modern equivalent of the American South before the Civil War. They are on the wrong side of any humanitarianism and are demonstrating the exact opposite of what they say they believe concerning racism and all its related issues.
And their best defense to date is that Israel has lost its moral high ground because “innocents” (the same innocents cheering their great Hamas victory over surprised Israeli civilians just killed in or taken from their homes to be paraded, raped, beheaded and tortured) are being killed in reprisals aimed at Hamas forces and recovering Israeli kidnapped citizens.
Pretty sick lefties. I know Dem politicians can still go lower, but how low do they have to go lose liberal and minority support? To date, I have not heard of a single bar being set. In fact, the SNL skits back during the Obama years are bearing out to be prophetic. Biden could pull out a gun and shoot Trump in the head on TV and Dems would say good riddance and vote for Biden that much more heavily. He would probably get a peace prize for it.