Peace Through Strength

With the dramatic events of this week, the murder of Hamas political chieftain Ismael Haniya as he was the “guest” of Ayatollah Khameini in Tehran,  proceeded by the murder 12 hours earlier in Beirut of Faud Shakr in Beirut, the unearthing of the body of Hamas military strategist Mohammad Deif from Khan Younis, and IRGC Commander Amir Hajizadeh near Damascus, plus the attack on the Houthi stronghold in the Yemini port of Hodeida, the world should learn that that there are no limits to the long arm of Israeli military intelligence.

This is Israel stepping up to the plate, doing the job of protecting itself, the US and all of the West, from the Iranian octopus and its many radical Islamist tentacles.

Yet, according to Axios, the Biden administration demanded in a “tough call” with Prime Minister Netanyahu on Thursday, that it “stop escalating tensions”, and to move immediately towards a hostage and a ceasefire deal.

The United States has displayed a baffling policy towards the Middle East, time after time, that has failed miserably. Stemming as far back as the Oslo Accords, US policy has been to project our own good natures onto the rest of the world, no matter how evil they may be. On September 13, 1993, the US was leading the charge to whitewash away Yassir Arafat’s decades of terrorism and to make him into a national statesman and Noble Prize laureate.

The second intifada, beginning in September 2000, a period of intensive suicide bombings, in buses and restaurants frequently by Israeli and American civilians, as well as other foreign nationals, resulting in over 1,000 innocent civilian deaths, and did little to deter those whose mind was caught in the failed paradigm of the “two state solution”. All the while incitement to despise and to kill the Israeli, the Jew, the American and the Christian were broadcast throughout Palestinian media, from their mosques and in their textbooks, inebriating most Palestinians and many Arabs with unadulterated hatred.

Those of us who had tried to expose this were the objects of scornful ridicule from the “chattering classes.” In what universe is the killing of innocents considered acceptable? Was it acceptable to us on September 11^th?

The current efforts of the US State Department towards Gaza and Iran are the shameful heirs of this Oslo legacy. Diplomacy towards containment is always the goal, irrespective of how evil our interlocutors might be.

We might do well to ask, did we negotiate with Hitler or Emperor Hirohito during World War II? Between February 13^th and 15^th of 1945, US and British bombers attacked Dresden, which resulted in 25,000 deaths in 2 days.  On the night between March 9^th and 10, 1945, the US attacked Tokyo, which resulted in over 100,000 deaths.

We understood then what the true face of evil was. What has happened to us?  Part of the answer to that question lies in our failed wars in Vietnam, Iraq and Afghanistan. We, in the United States, always learn from our last war, and project our sorry experiences onto the state of Israel.

But all wars are not alike. Israel does not have the two liquid assets, the Atlantic and Pacific Ocean, to surround and protect them. After the barbaric Hamas attacks of October 7^th, the Israelis understand that they are facing an existential conflict. And on October 8^th, Hezbollah joined into the fray in a war of attrition that has left approximately 80,000 Israelis homeless, and thousands of acres of scorched earth from the Iranian battery of thousands of missiles that Hezbollah has employed ever since.

Yes, there are approximately 200,000 of these missiles. Many might swarm and overwhelm Israel’s air defenses, some of which might have been depleted in the missile attacks from the 10 month war with Hamas. And some of which are precision guided munitions that can get to valuable places in Israel’s infrastructure, such as Dimona, the Kirya (the Israeli Pentagon), the Coastal Plain where most Israelis live, and the electric grid.

Yet, Biden is looking at constraining Israel.

Examine, for example, the White House’s attitude toward Gaza. According to Biden, there should be a “Phased Plan” of 3 stages: 1.)  the IDF withdraws entirely from Gaza, releasing an unspecified number of hostages who are old or infirm,  for the release of hundreds of Hamas terrorists from prisons, and Palestinian civilians would return to Gaza.(How can one tell who is a civilian when Hamas terrorists don’t wear uniforms?) 2.) a permanent end to hostilities, with “the ceasefire staying as long as the negotiations will continue”. (In other words, Hamas can regroup during this time, or eternally, if there is no end to the negotiations.) 3.) a reconstruction of Gaza, overseen by Qatar, (the lead funder of Hamas) and Egypt (whose tunnels were the main supply routes for Hamas’ weapons), and possibly a “revitalized Palestinian Authority. “

Just what Palestinian Authority are we talking about? According to the Palestinian Center for Policy and Survey Research, (PCPSR) “the percentage of satisfaction- of Palestinians- with Hamas and Yahya Sinwar remains very high. By contrast, satisfaction with Fatah and President Abbas continues to decline.” What is even more disconcerting is that, according to the PCPSR, two-thirds of the Palestinian public support the atrocities of October 7^th

Hezbollah, the Iranian proxy that dominates Lebanon, was responsible not only for the dastardly attack on  the Druze town of Majd al Shams, which killed 12 young people, but for scores  of car and bus bombings, the attack on the Israeli Embassy in Buenos Aries in 1992, the 1994 AMIA bombing in Buenos Aires, the assassination of Lebanese Prime Minister Rafik Harari in 2005, let alone the 1983 murder of 241 US servicemen asleep in their barracks.

These are just some of the multiples of the face of evil incarnate, all leading to Tehran. Khameini has said, as a result of the assassination of Ismael Haniyah, that “Iran has a duty to seek revenge for his blood”, adding that “Israel has prepared a harsh punishment for itself.”

The face of evil, itself, might well be staring at us, and spitting us in the eye, while our White House says, “It’s raining. Let’s step inside for a little diplomacy.”

Containment against evil is not a strategy. And excoriating those that fight evil should not be our policy.

As I write these words, Israelis are stocking their shelters with bottled water and cans. The world owes them a huge debt of gratitude. They are doing dirty work for us all.

Sarah N. Stern is Founder and President of the Endowment for Middle East Truth, EMET,  a think tank specializing in the Middle East.