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Israel ablaze

Reality checks, 1-4:

1) If Iran and its terrorist proxies laid down their arms: peace.

2) If Israel laid down her arms: genocide.

3) America’s enemies watch closely to see just how stupid American presidents are.

4) When American presidents are too stupid to recognize 1 & 3:

Iranian military gunboats with the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps, a designated terrorist organization, swarmed several U.S. warships on Monday that were escorting a U.S. submarine.

‘Over a dozen Iranian gunboats harass formation of six U.S. warships including guided-missile submarine Georgia,’ Fox News Pentagon correspondent Lucas Tomlinson said. ‘U.S. Coast Guard cutter fired warning shots in response in Strait of Hormuz.’

Iran didn’t do this sort of thing during the Trump Administration because they knew they’d be blown out of the water.  This was something else rare during the Trump years, from Vijeta Unival at Legal Insurrection:

Less than two days after Palestinians rioters on the Temple Mount demanded Hamas to fire rockets at Israel, the Gaza-based terrorist group has launched a barrage of missiles aimed at Jerusalem and other cities in central Israel.

At least seven rockets were fired at the Holy City on Monday evening. One of them landed in the western part of the Jerusalem district, the Israeli media reported. ‘A rocket struck a house in the Jerusalem suburb of Mevasseret Zion, causing damage but no injuries,’ Israeli broadcaster Arutz Sheva confirmed.

Israeli parliament, the Knesset, was evacuated and thousands of residents in Jerusalem’s Old City sought shelter from Hamas rockets, local media reports say. ‘Rocket sirens blared and explosions were heard across the Jerusalem area Monday evening, sending people outdoors scrambling for cover and Knesset members running for bomb shelters,’ Israeli news outlet YNet News reported.

The Jerusalem Post reported the Hamas rocket fire:

Rocket sirens sounded in central Israel and Jerusalem on Monday evening as thousands of Israelis were parading through downtown to celebrate Jerusalem Day. Hamas had threatened Israel earlier in the day that it would launch the rockets due to the ongoing clashes in Jerusalem.

The IDF said that seven rockets were fired towards the capital and one was intercepted by the Iron Dome missile defense system.

UPDATE:

The Israeli government vowed to respond to the Hamas rocket attacks. ‘Israel will respond with great force. We will not tolerate attacks on our territory, our capital, our citizens, or our soldiers,’ Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on Monday evening. ‘Those who attack us will pay a heavy price,’ he added.

Since this article was written, as many as 1000 additional rockets have been fired into Israel.  Many, but not all, have been intercepted by the Iron Dome system.

Americans tend to easily forget the rest of the world carefully watches us.  They may denigrate and scorn us, but they know who leads, who has genuine moral authority and strength.  When we have a strong president who looks out for America first, who unwaveringly supports America’s allies, and who punishes and restrain their common enemies, those enemies tend to avoid direct confrontation.  When, however, we have a president who blames America first, who supports America’s and our allies enemies, those enemies go to war.  The world suffers when America does not discharge its responsibilities.  Caroline Glick is among the most insightful and accurate observers of the Middle East and International relations:

Since the Democrats took control of the White House and both Houses of Congress a hundred days ago, the Middle East has become a powder keg. But Israel’s ruling class sees nothing.

In Afghanistan and Iraq, violent attacks against U.S. forces are rising steeply. From January through April, attacks on U.S. forces increased 40%. President Joe Biden’s announcement that the U.S. will withdraw its forces from the country by September 11, the 20th anniversary of the jihadist attacks on the U.S. worsened the situation by communicating a message of profound American weakness and defeatism. The Taliban, al Qaeda and Iran clearly believe they are now free to humiliate and bleed the U.S. as they take control of the country.

Under Gropin’ Joe Biden, they’re right.

In Iraq, Iranian-controlled Shiite militias launched three missile strikes against U.S. bases in the past week. Hoping to avoid confrontation with Iran as its emissaries appease it in Vienna, the Biden administration is assiduously avoiding acknowledging that Iran is behind the attacks, and so it guarantees that more attack will soon follow. As in Afghanistan, Iran reads U.S. behavior as an invitation to strike with immunity.

Haven’t heard about those missile attacks?  I wonder why not?

In Syria, Iran’s Syrian proxy President Bashar Assad and Iran’s Lebanese proxy Hezbollah continue to wage a war of extermination against Syrians who oppose them. In southern Syria last weekend, after opposition forces from the village of Am Batana, six kilometers from the border with Israel attacked a joint Syrian military and Hezbollah base nearby, the military ordered the entire village to evacuate by 2 pm last Saturday, or else. Most of the villagers reportedly fled their homes.

While turning a blind eye to Syria, the Biden administration continues to empower the Lebanese armed forces and government – both wholly controlled by Iran through Hezbollah. Last month, the administration transferred armored trucks valued at $14 million to the Hezbollah-controlled Lebanese military and asked that Congress provide financial assistance to the government. Hezbollah for its part has launched a charm campaign on the public. Having caused the government to go bankrupt and forced the people of a once prosperous land into destitution, Hezbollah is now carrying out a well-publicized food drive, handing out Iranian basic foodstuffs to starving Lebanese along with Hezbollah membership cards.

Just months ago, hope abounded that Saudi Arabia would join the UAE, Bahrain, Morocco and Sudan in the Abraham peace accords with Israel. But the picture is now reversed. Recognizing the U.S. has changed sides, the Saudis no longer believe that with Israel they can contain Iran. So now they are hoping to cut a deal with the ayatollahs.

Remember only a few months ago, the Trump Administration accomplished what no one had ever been able to do: Israel’s Arab neighbors were making peace with Israel.  They understood the need to be united against their real and common enemy: Iran.  Trump’s sanctions had Iran on the verge of collapse.  Even Saudi Arabia was on the verge of allying with Israel.  Biden’s handlers threw all of that away out or spite and stupidity and the region is once more plunged into a widening and intensifying war.

President Trump cut off the flow of American money and material support to the corrupt, genocidal Palestinians.  He treated them like the murderers and madmen they are, and as a result, they committed far less overt violence than in many years.  Trump made clear America’s support for Israel.  The Palestinians preferred, instead, to stockpile enormous numbers of rockets and other arms to be used when they were once again flush with foreign cash and assured American leadership was once again feckless.

The Palestinians understand two key truths. First, the only unified foreign policy the EU has is delegitimization of Israel. And second, for the Biden administration and Democrats as a whole, there is no difference between foreign policy and domestic policy. The administration is supportive of Iran and the Palestinians because Biden and his advisors apply the same identity politics to their foreign policy as they do to their domestic policy.

Identity politics hold that the U.S. was born in sin and systemically racist. To cleanse its soul, America must adopt a two-tier system of governance in which members of recognized ‘victim’ groups are given extraordinary rights and members of recognized ‘oppressor’ groups must be punished. And just as America is morally infirm and must mend its evil ways, so its allies –particularly Israel – must be similarly punished and forced to transform itself.

Biden gave voice to this position in his speech before Congress this week. There he presented a portrait of the U.S. as an inherently racist state. This racism, he claimed was preserved and enforced by the law enforcement system which suffers from ‘systemic racism.’ Police reform laws that he and his fellow Democrats intend to promulgate, he said, will remedy the situation.

Priorities…

In attacking and punishing “systemically racist” Americans rather than America’s enemies, Biden’s handlers are igniting murder and misery, not only in America, but around the world.  One wonders why no American news networks are able to understand and report these issues with the clarity of Israeli Glick?  The New York Sun Editorial Board, does see:

Let’s retire the phrase ‘fake news.’ The right word for the statements from the Biden White House, the State Department, the Europeans and the United Nations, all of whom are calling for a de-escalation of the violence in Jerusalem, is counterfactual. The fact is that the sudden escalation in violence, centered in a real estate dispute in east Jerusalem, is dictated, mostly, by Hamas.

The Gaza-based terror organization decides when to shoot and at what targets. It is in a fury because the Palestinian Authority decided to cancel a scheduled election that Hamas was predicted to win. Eventually Hamas will also decide to end the current round of hostilities and beg for a ceasefire. Israel will quickly abide. Meantime, Hamas has decided to turn its fire to Israel.

The terrorist organization hitched a ride on a confluence of events, including the end of the holy month of Ramadan; Arab unrest over a real estate dispute at East Jerusalem; Israel’s annual celebration of Jerusalem Day; and riots at the al Aqsa mosque on the Temple Mount. On Monday, Hamas announced an ultimatum for Israel to end its activities on the Temple Mount by 6 p.m. local o’clock.

When the deadline arrived, the al Aqsa area was actually fairly quiet. Yet Hamas launched a barrage of missiles from Gaza a few seconds after the 6pm deadline. Seven missiles were aimed at Jerusalem, far beyond the usual targeting range. One missile fell in Kiryat Anavim. At the same time, several rockets were launched at Sderot and other towns near the Gaza border that are all too familiar with such attacks.

Biden’s handler’s “diplomacy” is doomed to failure, because as Glick noted, it debases Ameria and funds and elevates a terrorist rump state and its supporters.

The return to American attempts at mediation, which necessitates treating both Israel and the Palestinians as equal players, is far from the only cause for the current violence. Ramadan, religious sensitivities in Jerusalem, Jewish and Arab extremists — all these, exploited by Hamas, caused the escalation. And Hamas, an ally of Iran, knows exactly what it is doing.

In addition to its Iranian sponsors, Hamas took its cue from Washington’s decision to return to past policies that put the Palestinians at, or near, the center of America’s Mideast policies. That is being coupled with Mr. Biden’s new emphasis on uniting the overrated ‘international community.’ No wonder Hamas feels that the world is behind its demands.

It now appears Israelis may be, once again, understanding the necessity of keeping Benjamin Netanyahu in office, much as the British understood the value of Winston Churchill as WWII loomed.  They also seem to understand the smartest course of action is to keep American diplomats as far away as possible:

Israeli officials have argued behind the scenes that the Biden administration shouldn’t intervene over the recent escalation in violence between security forces and Palestinians at a holy site in Jerusalem, according to Israeli officials.

Final Thoughts:  Ronald Reagan said it best:

Of the four wars in my lifetime, none came about because the US was too strong.

In the history of mankind, war, not peace, is the status quo.  If we wish to live in peace, our military strength, directed by our united and self-confident resolve, must never waver.  We must not allow ourselves to be complacent, thinking evil does not exist, or our superior intellects and virtue have made it irrelevant.  A divided, self-loathing people are weak and ready for conquest.  Abraham Lincoln was right when he said:

A house divided against itself cannot stand.

Our temporary, puppet president has declared America a racist, evil nation, full of white supremacists and insurrectionists.  He is purging our military of the competent and patriotic and supporting actual internal, racist, Marxist terrorists who are setting our cities ablaze.  Our system of equal justice deteriorates by the day.  If our “leaders” were actively trying to destroy America and damage her allies, how would they behave differently?  Our diplomats are not only idiots, but anti-American.  They embrace and lavishly fund our enemies and ridicule and damage our allies, who once again are reminded it’s far more dangerous to be American’s ally than her enemy.

In a deranged rush to once again fully fund and enable Iran by reviving a nuclear “deal” that has always done nothing other than guarantee a nuclear Iran, America’s “leaders” are setting the Middle East on fire, while China and Russia ally with Iran.  China’s unprecedented military buildup remains an imminent danger ignored by the highest levels of the American government.  Our enemies are attacking us with every means at their command.  We are not yet so militarily weak they’ve resorted to overt hostilities, but we’d be fools to imagine they’re not planning for that.  Sadly, Socialists, Communists, fools and racists now control our federal government.

Some suggest Republicans will retake control of Congress in 2022.  Even if that materializes, all they’ll be able to do—which would be miraculous by Stupid Party standards—is to slow Biden’s handlers down a bit.  The domestic and foreign policy destruction already underway will continue apace.  We cannot, the world cannot, afford 100 days of D/S/C rule, yet we have nearly four years—at minimum—left.  Best of all?  President Harris.

God help us.  God help humanity.

UPDATE, 05-11-21, 1730:  I can’t say I’m universally impressed by former UN Ambassador Nikki Haley, but she’s on target here:

It’s devastating to watch what’s happening in Jerusalem, but then it’s also somewhat expected. I mean, this is a way of, you know, Hamas and that terrorist group to test Biden. Biden is doing exactly what we expected.

You know, they came in. Biden does everything in the name of Trump reversals. So what does he do? He turns around and finds the Palestinians corrupt organization again. Hamas now wants to test Biden because they don’t think that he’s going to do anything severe.

This is particularly on point:

They go and start shooting rockets into Jerusalem. And what does Biden do? He calls for restraint when what he should be doing is having Israel’s back. I can’t imagine in any scenario if a terrorist organization were shooting rockets into Washington, D.C., that we would be OK with our friends and allies calling for restraint. This is where Biden should be calling out the Palestinians. The only reason this is happening is because Hamas is shooting rockets and Biden needs to put a stop to it. He can do it by pulling money. He can do it by calling for action and he can stop this right now.

Yes.  Yes he does, but he won’t.

UPDATE, 05-12-21, 1530:  Caroline Glick, once again, explains what American media will not:

In the past, as American leftists and Europeans automatically sided with the Palestinians and embraced their anti-Semitic narratives, U.S. administrations could be counted on to reject the libels and stand with Israel. The Trump administration, for instance, presided over the four most peaceful years of Israel-Palestinian relations since the early 1980s.

That unprecedented tranquility didn’t owe to Hamas and Fatah putting down their guns or ending their production of missiles and rockets. It owed to then-President Donald Trump‘s unyielding defense of Israel and rejection of Palestinian terrorism, terror funding, incitement and anti-Semitism. It owed to Trump’s recognition of Jerusalem as Israel’s capital and his moving of the U.S. embassy in Israel to Jerusalem. Fatah and Hamas realized that if they launched assaults against Israel, then the U.S. would back an Israeli military operation to crush them.

Side benefits of the quiet included the Abraham Accords, which normalized ties between Israel and four Islamic states, and a new spirit of coexistence between Israeli Arabs—who now felt more comfortable than ever with their citizenship in the Jewish state—and Israeli Jews.

Since its first days in office, the Biden administration has taken actions and issued statements to signal that it is replacing Trump’s support for Israel with support for the Palestinians. President Joe Biden restored U.S. funding to the PA despite its unceasing support for, and funding of, terrorism. Biden also reinstated U.S. funding of United Nations agencies, such as UNRWA, that work with Hamas and disseminate Nazi-like anti-Semitism. Biden announced the U.S. intends to rejoin the UN Human Rights Council, an organization whose primary function is to demonize and condemn Israel.

Take the link and read the whole thing.  Also take this link and read the whole thing from Tablet:

On Sunday, National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan phoned his Israeli counterpart and turned back the hands of time. According to the American readout of the conversation, Sullivan called ‘to express the United States’ serious concerns’ about two things: the pending eviction, by court order, of a number of Palestinian families from their homes in the Sheikh Jarrah neighborhood of Jerusalem, and the weekend’s violent clashes on the Temple Mount between Israeli police and Palestinian rioters. The Biden administration, in other words, publicly asserted an American national interest in preventing the Sheikh Jarrah evictions, regardless of the dictates of Israeli law—just as Hamas was sending rockets and incendiary devices into Israel with the same message. This conscious effort to put ‘daylight’ between the United States and Israel marked a clear return to the approach of President Barack Obama.

Biden’s handlers won’t be satisfied until the Middle East is in flames and fingers are on nuclear triggers.