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| Ambassador David Friedman (Wikipedia) |
Not alone. Israel still has most Americans, a unified population with high morale and deep conviction, and . . . . God!
I think that’s right. Even though Israelis are divided on many issues they are unified in two very important ways. One is their support of the war against Hamas. The other is in their opposition to a Palestinian state. The latter of which was once a point of contention between right and left. But has changed ever since the Hamas massacre on October 7th. There is no longer any support for that by any substantial segment of Israel. And I obviously believe that Israel still has God on its side. However, does Israel still have the support of the American people suggested by Friedman?
I think it depends on what that means. On the one hand I an understand why Americans might prefer a cease fire of some kind. Daily images of human suffering on a such a massive scale cannot but evoke the greatest sympathy it the Malchus Shel Chesed – the ‘kingdom’ of kindness so labeled by Rav Moshe Feinstein. Americans are simply living up to their reputation in that regard.
On the other hand I recall a poll recently that said the vast majority of Americans support Israel in their war against Hamas. This is where I think Friedman was going with that tweet.
Question is, how does one reconcile these two seemingly opposite feelings? I don’t think that is too difficult to do. They want Israel to defeat Hamas without killing so many civilians. An understandable if unachievable goal.
Unachievable when the people you are trying to defeat are determined to have as many of their own people killed as possible. This is how Hamas ‘defends’ itself. Making it virtually impossible to avoid high casualty numbers reported daily by the Hamas Health Ministry. Numbers that do not distinguish between civilians and Hamas terrorists. So if Israel and the US wants Israel to win this war, Israel can do littel to prevent those high civilian casualty numbers.
The question then becomes, is it worth it? Is defeating Hamas worth the tens of thousands of ‘innocent’ civilian casualties it has thus far cost them? And is it even possible to win the war in the sense of permanently eliminating the Hamas threat?
This is where American support might be wavering. Will the Biden administration’s pressure to not enter the city of Rafah in southern Gaza - thereby forcing Israel to concede and stop the war? What will happen to Israel if proceeds with its plan? What will happen if they don’t? How do the Israeli people feel about that? How do the American people feel about it? Does it matter? What about the strong support the Biden administration had for Israel’s war against Hamas at its outset? Is that gone?
These are complicated questions that do not have an easy answer. But here’s what I know. (Or at least I think I know.)
I know that Israel has no choice but to destroy the capability of Hamas to ever massacre Jews again. Which Hamas has promised to do over and over again until they succeed in eradicating our presence in ‘their river to the sea land of Palestine’.
I know that the Israeli people are unified in supporting the war.
I know that Israel absolutely does not target innocent civilians. It is Hamas that targets them by using them a human shields. And I know the American people are aware of this.
I know that most Americans support Israel in the war with Hamas. Although they are concerned about the massive number of civilian casualties.
What about the contradiction between Biden’s support for Israel and his demands not to enter Rafah because of the ‘unacceptable number of civilian casualties that will surely result? And now demanding a cease fire?
In my view this is an irreconcilable position to have. You cannot support Israel’s war with Hamas and at the same time demand a cease fire. True, supporting Israel means that Hamas will assure that as many of their people as possible become ‘martyrs’. While supporting a cease fire means that Israel will not achieve its objective of destroying Hamas’s ability to ever massacre Jews again. And with the help of their benefactors, Iran, they will surely attempt to keep their nefarious promises as many times as they can.
Prime Minister Netanyahu and his war cabinet have decided to proceed with the war and enter Rafah. Protecting the people of Israel is their primary obligation. Trying to do so with as few civilian causalities as possible - despite the best efforts of Hamas to use their woman and children as cannon fodder.
That has upset the Biden administration. They do not want Israel to enter Rafah unless they have a detailed plan to evacuate civilians. Netanyahu has said that his war cabinet has approved a plan to evacuate Palestinians from Rafah to safe zones. The US is not happy with that declaration since they have not been provided with a detailed plan that would accomplish that. The US sees evacuating over a million civilians from Rafah as a virtual impossibility.
At a recent press conference Secretary of State Antony Blinken showed visible anger at Israel’s determination to enter Gaza with all those civilaisn lives a stake. And yet - in practically the same breath he insisted that Israel has a right to defend itself against Hamas. How is that possible without entering Rafah? He claimed that there are other ways for Israel to achieve victory over Hamas.
That’s nice. Does he really believe that Israel would be attacking the remaining Hamas strongholds in Rafah if there was another way to do that? Israel has no interest in killing innocent civilians. And even less interest in the casualties its own army will suffer in such an action. I have to assume that Israel took an exhaustive look at all available options to complete their mission and have determined that this is the only one that has any chance of succeeding.
But OK. If Blinken really thinks there is another way, why doesn’t he come right out and enlighten Israel’s war cabinet what that would be? My guess is that he doesn’t really have another way. It doesn’t exist. How sad that this son of Holocaust survivors has forgotten what happed to his parents at the hands of people just like Hamas.