The War in Gaza

Meanwhile, the Middle East descends into a larger war. Yesterday, Prime Minister Netanyahu denounced the Biden administration for holding up arms shipments. The Biden administration took serious offense to being exposed… and canceled a meeting with the Israelis.

American foreign policy is in the worst of hands.

The Israeli war cabinet drew up a plan to deal with the constant attacks on Northern Israel, attacks mounted by Hezbollah. The Biden administration counseled restraint, because that seems to be all that the Biden administration knows how to do.

And then, one Benny Gantz resigned from the Israeli war cabinet because the Netanyahu administration had failed to produce a coherent plan for the aftermath of the Gaza war.

Gantz obviously wants Netanyahu’s job, and in his quest he is lining up support from the Biden administration and Tommy Friedman. Did you notice that the Gantz statement echoes points that Tommy has been making for months now?

You might not think that Tommy has been speaking for the administration, but Benny Gantz seems to think he is.

The situation in Israel and its environs will go down as a grotesque example of political mismanagement. Considering that Tommy and his friends have been ranting and raving about Prime Minister Netanyahu, placing the blame entirely with him, the chances are good that they are trying to save Joe Biden.

Since they are having difficulty blaming it on Trump, they have chosen Netanyahu as their scapegoat. Otherwise, it has been happening under Biden’s watch. The Biden administration has been trying to play both sides against each other. 

In so doing they are giving the bad actors in the region free reign to attack Israel. And they are giving other countries cover when they want to attack Israel.  

Now, some of us have suggested that Tommy’s weak-kneed approach will save Hamas, and its leader Yahha Sinwar. It feels outrageous to think that the Biden administration, through its NY Times mouthpiece, would be working to save Hamas, but, alas, such seems to be the case.

In fact, Tommy managed to say it out loud in his most recent column. Consider that he is floating the idea to see the reaction before the singularity inept Tony Blinken asserts it.

Consider this reverie:

Yes, yes, I can hear the criticism from the war hawks right now: “Friedman, you would let Hamas’s leader, Yahya Sinwar, come out of his tunnel and declare victory?”

Yes, I would. In fact, I wish I could be at the news conference in Gaza when he does, so I could ask the first question:

“Mr. Sinwar, you claim this is a great victory for Hamas — a total Israeli withdrawal and a stable cease-fire. I just want to know: What existed on Oct. 6 between you and Israel, before your surprise attack? Oh, let me answer that: a total Israeli withdrawal from Gaza and a stable cease-fire. If you don’t mind, I’d like to stick around for a few days to watch you explain to Gazans how you started an eight-month war — causing the destruction of roughly 70 percent of Gaza’s housing stock and leaving, by your count, some 37,000 Gazans dead, many of them women and children — so you could get Gaza back to exactly where it was on Oct. 6, in a cease-fire with Israel and no Israeli troops here. Another Hamas victory like this and Gaza will be permanently unlivable.”

And to Israelis who would ask, “Friedman, are you crazy, you would let Sinwar run Gaza again?” my answer would again be — yes, for now. The alternatives — Israel running Gaza or Gaza becoming another Somalia — are far worse. Netanyahu’s idea that some perfect Palestinians — who are neither members of Hamas nor the Palestinian Authority — will run the place for Israel is a fantasy.

The only people who can defeat Hamas are the Palestinians of Gaza. They, too, need better leadership, and if they find it, we should help them rebuild. But until then, Israel would be crazy to want to stay in Gaza and be responsible for its reconstruction. That honor should go to Sinwar.

I believe that the morning after the morning after Sinwar emerges from his tunnel, many Gazans will want to pummel him for the disaster he has visited on them. And if not, Sinwar and Sinwar alone will be responsible when the water doesn’t flow, when the building materials don’t arrive, when the sun doesn’t shine — not Israel. And if he is so foolish as to restart the war with Israel or attempt to smuggle in weapons instead of food and housing for his people, it will all be on him.

It is no accident that Tommy shares the first name of a character in a rock opera. And the idiot notion that the people of Gaza will rise up and smite the victorious Sinwar is wishful thinking. It is also naive, considering that the inhabitants of Gaza approve of what happened on October 7 and want to do it again. They have learned to blame Israel for everything that ensued.

But this does tell us why Sinwar does not surrender and why Hamas does not simply lay down arms. The Biden administration has its back. Biden is not merely holding up arms shipments to Israel, but he is getting ready to accept a post-war situation where Hamas rules Gaza.

Hamas is using human shields and racking up the body count because it knows that weak and squeamish people like Tommy will give up anything to make it stop.

We know what Tommy does not know. Call it reality. If Israel can be forced out of Gaza, and if Sinwar emerges from his hole in the ground, the area will be flooded with aid. Gaza will begin the great reconstruction, not merely in order to rebuild-- they never really wanted to build anyway-- but to advance their ultimate goal-- the destruction of the state of Israel.

If Israel fails to destroy Hamas, it will be humiliated on the world stage. Its enemies will feel empowered. And they will set about with even more fervor to destroy it.

Saving Hamas guarantees more intifadas, more terrorism and more October 7. Tommy Friedman does not envision the possibility because he cannot think straight. Squeamish and cowardly he can do no better than try to save Hama-- because he does not want to hurt anyone’s feelings.

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