In what has become a nightly exercise by the media to focus on the legitimate suffering of Palestinians, reporters have been interviewing those that have had members of their family – especially young children killed via Israel’s airstrikes. In two separate instances I saw a grieving parent cry over the loss of child - referring to them as martyrs.
That is why the terrorist of October 7th kept screaming Allahu Akbar - God is great - as they went about their murderous rampage This was nothing less than a religious mission for them. They want to rid Palestine of the infidel Jew and replace them with Muslims. Doing so requires martyrs. Hamas is more than happy to provide them by way of their own civilians. Including children.
The second thing I heard which is somewhat related and equally troubling was Biden administration spokesman, John Kirby’s answer to a question about Israel’s end game in Gaza. He said that in no way should Israel reoccupy Gaza and that Palestinians there have the right to choose their own leaders.
Well, technically that is correct. But the fact is that by now we all know who they would choose, Because when that option was first given to them, they chose Hamas. Not only isn’t there any reason to assume they would change their vote for someone more moderate (if that even exists) but after all the devastation and carnage they are experiencing for which they blame Israel, they will very likely choose people even more radical than Hamas. Like Islamic Jihad.
No country has the right to chose leaders who believe in genocide. The Biden administration would do well to recognize that and not advocate for their right to choose their own leader. There must be another solution.
In my view, Israel must prevent at all costs a return to a Gaza ruled by genocidal fanatics whose end game for the Jewish people rivals Hitler’s final solution. I do not relish the thought of Israel reoccupying Gaza. But if Israel is going to have the kind of security necessary to protect their people from repeat performances of October 7th they probably have no choice but to do that. At least in the short term. The occupation should be entirely military. No civilians. No settlements. And it should last until such time that Palestinians finally realize that their own worst enemy is the very type of leadership that keeps making martyrs out of their children.
Now that I got that off my chest, a word about last night’s Republican presidential debate. The conventional wisdom is that Trump is a shoe-in for the nomination. With good reason. He is way ahead of any of his rivals in a recent poll taken in Iowa where the first Republican primary will be held. While Trump does have 43% of the vote - to DeSantis and Haley's 16% each... 43% is not a majority. The majority vote of 57% is divided among the other candidates. My guess is that if all but one of them dropped out, the race would tighten up considerably and may even skew away from Trump.
I have said from the very beginning – even before she announced her candidacy, that my choice would be Nikky Haley. At this point in time, there is no more important issue to me than foreign policy. Even though just about all the candidates last night articulated a foreign policy that addresses my concerns about Israel and Iran, Haley’s proven enthusiastic support for Israel makes her the ideal candidate. As does her views on domestic issues.
It appears that those that dismissed her as a viable candidate for the Republican nomination – spoke too soon. Haley earned my support as the US representative to the UN. She deserves the support of all Jewish Americans. If her momentum continues she might actually win the nomination. Not that DeSantis or any of the the others will drop out. But you never know.