Biden's terrible turn
(Originally published in The Times of Israel) President Biden’s initial responses to Hamas’ atrocities demonstrated moral clarity, strategic acumen, and clear support for the victim of the attack, Israel. Now, either from strategic errors or out of political concerns, or both, Biden is making some very serious mistakes, both on policy and politics. The Biden Administration is wrong to pressure Israel not to pursue and eliminate Hamas in Rafah, the last refuge of the surviving four or five Hamas battalions. Anything short of the total elimination of Hamas militarily will be claimed as a victory by Hamas, and it will be seen that way in the region. Israel will have lost its most essential defensive tool: deterrence. The attacks, which went on long before the October 7 th attack and which momentarily got the world’s attention on October 7th, will resume. Israelis will lose faith in the army’s ability to protect them. The south as well as the north of the country will be uninhabitable.