The Last Hamas War enters a new stage courtesy of Biden's fear of losing the November election. Raping and killing 1,200 Jews is getting Hamas a port, courtesy of America. How many Jews does Hamas have to kill to get a luxury resort?
In the annals of Smart Diplomacy®, truly this Biden initiative will long be spoken of with hushed tones of awe:
In his State of the Union address Thursday night, U.S. President Joe Biden announced that he was directing the U.S. military to establish an aid port to help people in Gaza.
To help them ... do what, exactly? Because no matter how heart-breaking it is to see little children suffering as they are stuck in the middle of a war, that's on Hamas that likes their human shields young. The sainted international community says the people of Gaza have suffered enough. So Israel must end the war. Biden agrees.
But Hamas clearly disagrees with the sainted international community because it could end the suffering of its own people by surrendering. It chooses not to because it would rather have the chance to kill one more Jew even if the price is 10,000 more dead Gazans.
Dead Gazans are like spent shell casings--just evidence Hamas is still fighting.
Biden also wants a Ramadan ceasefire in Gaza. He's clearly forgotten whatever he knew about the false claim that Ramadan ceasefires are proper and expected for Moslems at war. Remember when that was the height of nuance just after 9/11?
And yeah, as Vodkapundit notes, American "humanitarian" aid to Gazans is a form of false compassion that extends the war by sustaining the ability of Hamas and their allied constellation of smaller jihadi groups to fight on. A pause in fighting will simply allow them an opportunity to reload.
In related news, our pinprick air raids are alleged to have frightened Iran into passivity:
It’s been more than a month since Iran-backed militia groups attacked U.S. troops in Iraq, Syria or Jordan. U.S. officials hope it’s a sign that previous airstrikes — and the threat of more — are working.I'm cynical enough to believe Biden bribed Iran rather than frightened it. I'm going to ask if building a port for Hamas was Iran's price for temporarily restraining their pet militias. I mean, what might Iran do with a port in Gaza?
Iranian military and security leaders are increasingly discussing the need to expand the Iranian military presence around the Red Sea and Mediterranean Sea.
Coincidence, I'm sure.
Also, I hear the port will be "temporary." Oh, please. Biden's base will accuse him of "besieging" Gaza if he orders the port dismantled. Biden will cave and leave it in place.
I'd like to be wrong. But when Smart Diplomacy® builds up a head of steam, the sky's the limit for what our enemies can get from us. Especially when a key constituency in Biden's reelection coalition supports Hamas and its goal of murdering and raping Jews. So America might forfeit Israel's efforts to make this the last Hamas war.
But hey, I'm shocked Biden has backed Israel for five months now. And if Biden builds a port for Hamas--who knows, maybe Congress can work up the guts to deny Biden the authority to build it--I guess Israel can seriously wall off Gaza without any crossings for humanitarian aid. Let the world have that responsibility.
Hell, why would Hamas surrender now with Smart Diplomacy® coming to the rescue? They're probably pretty close to punching their Frequent Jihad card to get that resort!
UPDATE: That resort can be far behind:
Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez said Saturday that he will propose that Spain's parliament recognizes a Palestinian state. ...
French President Emmanuel Macron said last month that it's not “taboo” for France to recognize a Palestinian state. British Foreign Minister David Cameron said that the United Kingdom could officially recognize a Palestinian state after a cease-fire in the Israel-Hamas war.
Shameful.
UPDATE: Wait. What?
Amid escalating tensions in Sudan, General Yasser al-Atta, representing the country's military, has delivered a resolute stance: there will be no ceasefire during the forthcoming Islamic holy month of Ramadan unless certain conditions are met.
What an Islamophobe!
UPDATE: Dumbkirk:
Over the next 60 days, roughly 1,000 [U.S.] troops will deploy to the Mediterranean Sea to build a floating platform where cargo ships can offload aid onto smaller military vessels, which will transfer them to a causeway attached to the [Gaza] beach[.]
Is this effectively Israel's deadline for wrapping up the major combat operations phase of destroying Hamas?
UPDATE: I am not filled with confidence in our military leadership:
Q: Does the DoD anticipate that Hamas will try to fire on them, on the operation (inaudible)?
GEN. RYDER: Look, I mean, that's certainly a risk, again, but if Hamas truly does care about the Palestinian people, then again, one would hope that this international mission to deliver aid to people who need it would be able to happen unhindered.
Remember how America sent troops into Somalia in 1992 to enable famine relief?
Remember how with full bellies, Somalis started to shoot at us? Remember Black Hawk Down?
I certainly remember opining at the time that it wouldn't be too long before Somalis were shooting at our troops.
Oh, as to Ryder's conditional statement? No, Hamas doesn't truly care about the Palestinian people.
UPDATE: Let's return to those thrilling days of yesteryear when America intervened with boots on the ground to shield the PLO from Israel's military. SPOILER ALERT: Our enemies appreciated the opportunity to kill a lot of Americans.
UPDATE: TDR has compiled a handy graphic to fully explain how this Smart Diplomacy® will work:
Don't be shocked when there is video footage of American bodies washing ashore like its the set of a Dieppe movie filming.
UPDATE: An alternative way the Ef-Up Fairy might intervene is that Gazans rush up the pier to get on those transfer vessels. Do American forces shoot or push Gazans into the sea to stop them?
What if the Turks or pro-Hamas NGOs send vessels to the pier to evacuate Gazans? Do we sink them or board them to stop them?
The ways Smart Diplomacy® can unfold are truly endless.
UPDATE: Of course we did:
The US has held secret talks with Iran this year in a bid to convince Tehran to use its influence over Yemen’s Houthi movement to end attacks on ships in the Red Sea, according to US and Iranian officials.
Convince? I think they spelled "bribe" wrong.
UPDATE: Israel's government has approved operations to take Rafah despite public Biden opposition.
UPDATE: I recognized this shift in American interests as soon as America won the Cold War:
Deep in the Israeli psyche is the notion that the United States will not abandon Israel in extremis. But there is a saying that nations have no permanent friends or enemies, only permanent interests. In 1973, the Israeli interest was to protect the whole of Israel – and that was absolute. The U.S. had what you might call a sentiment interest in Israel, but building strategy on sentiment is dangerous. What really mattered to Washington was the Soviet Union.
We still have an interest in supporting Israel. And there is a moral component of that interest. But yes, America's strategic interest in Israel's security and power is lower without a hostile major power threatening the Middle East. Iran is a threat--but not a major power. And besides, under Democratic administrations that is no basis for American-Israeli alliance.
This is something Israel needs to account for, including having a sense of urgency in completing military operations to avoid forcing America to confront the changing role of Israel in American security.
When Hamas started the war, I said Israel had weeks or months to do the main job with large-scale military operations. Israel has gotten more time than I thought they'd get. Has it been enough? Will Israel lose more diplomatically than it gains on the ground by going on? This is surely unfair. But the world is not fair and nobody should expect it.
UPDATE: Does Israel think it has an opportunity--and need--to take down Hezbollah after dealing with Hamas?
Israel faces a dilemma. It can risk war with Hezbollah, but in the process, a war would broaden the fighting in a way that makes the current war in Gaza look like a minor dust-up. Israel could also wait, which would avoid war now with Hezbollah, but this could risk a more serious conflict in the future with a foe that is better armed and capable and that could control the timing of a war to its advantage.
I think that unless Hezbollah opens that front--and from the beginning I didn't think Hezbollah was eager to join the war--Israel's public won't support that war that lacks the horror of the Hamas October 7, 2023 rape and murder invasion to sustain resolve to destroy the enemy.
I can also totally see America denying Israel weaponry and support. Our open objective of deterring Hezbollah from entering the war
NOTE: TDR Winter War of 2022 coverage continues here.
