Hamas’ shock attack on innocent Israelis this weekend should be a blaring wake-up call not just to Israel but also to America, the West and anyone who thinks appeasing evil-doers can ensure security.
This barbarism ought to finally shake President Joe Biden’s naïve view that retreat, misguided diplomacy and “soft power” — abjectly abandoning Afghanistan, relying purely on threats of sanctions to deter Russia’s Ukraine invasion, plying Iran with billions to lure it into a (worthless) nuclear-arms deal — can turn bloodthirsty enemies into peace-loving members of the civilized world.
In Afghanistan, Biden’s hard bugout date signaled that no matter what deals the Taliban broke or atrocities it perpetrated, the nation was theirs for the taking come Sept. 1, 2021.
Sure enough, the Taliban seized power amid the slaughter of 13 US servicemen; Biden left countless US allies stranded and billions in military equipment to the enemy.
The debacle signaled a weakened America no longer willing to defend even its own interests abroad.
Emboldened, Vladimir Putin set his sights on Ukraine.
Again, Biden buckled under the threat, ruling out arms shipments to Kyiv lethal enough to deter Putin, and limiting America’s response to pathetically inadequate sanctions.
He even suggested a “minor incursion” into Ukraine might be OK.
Putin’s invasion has now cost an untold number of lives — and Biden still hesitates repeatedly at sending Ukraine the advanced weapons it needs to win the war.
In the Middle East, Biden has pursued the Obama fantasy that Iran, under a radical regime bent on dominating the region and destroying Israel, can be reformed via “enlightened” diplomacy and a large enough pile of cash.
Even before sending Tehran a staggering $6 billion in ransom last month for five US hostages (and freeing Iranian prisoners, to boot), the prez eased sanctions and shipped billions to Iran, hoping to revive the failed 2015 nuclear agreement.
Surely, some of those funds wound up helping Hamas, Iran’s proxy, and more will wind up boosting it even after it launched this weekend’s attack.
“A region that’s coming together through diplomacy and cooperation,” Biden blathered, “is less likely to give rise to violent extremism.”
Yet Hamas couldn’t have carried out the attack this weekend without Tehran’s financial and military aid — and its blessing. Where’s the “cooperation”?
Biden resumed aid to Palestinians, sought concessions for them in a potential Israel-Saudi peace deal and slammed the Netanyahu government — utterly ignoring the simple fact that the only barrier to peace is the Palestinian refusal to accept Israel’s existence.
Hamas, meanwhile, believes it can use its record number of Israeli hostages to force Israel to release thousands of Palestinian prisoners, including the worst terrorists.
That belief is based on Israel’s past agreements to trade hostages, moves that only encourage more hostage-taking.
The weekend nightmare caught Jerusalem woefully off-guard: Israel had slid into a sense of complacency, just as it had on the eve of the 1973 Yom Kippur War — with senior military leaders estimating just last week that Hamas had no interest in a major conflict.
It’s obvious now that evil that can’t be appeased or wished away.
Washington, Jerusalem and the entire Western left need to do some serious rethinking.
No more sucking up to Iran, or other thugocracies.
Hamas must be driven out of Gaza.
Ruthless regimes — from Iran to Gaza to Russia to China — must be met with stiff resistance, not milquetoast threats and doomed olive branches.
If the horror in Israel doesn’t make all that painfully clear, the bloodshed there will be just a taste of what’s to come.
