It's been three weeks since Hamas terrorists entered Israel and carried out unspeakable, evil crimes against the innocent.
Seemingly endless footage continues to show the torture Hamas inflicted on thousands of civilians as they laughed with glee and called home to their parents in the Gaza Strip, bragging about killing Jews with their hands. Thirty-one of them were Americans. On day 28, rockets are still flying into Israeli population centers and haven't ceased since the war began.
And yet, while the Biden administration was forceful in its backing of Israeli officials at the beginning, who have declared Hamas will be defeated, they're starting to waver. In a number of ways, cowardice has arrived.
First, U.S. officials continue to pump doubt into the Israeli response by falsely implying the Israeli Defense Forces aren't following international law or the rules of war.
"He will reiterate U.S. support for Israel's right to defend itself in accordance with international humanitarian law, and discuss the need to take all precautions to minimize civilian casualties, as well as our work to deliver humanitarian assistance," the State Department said about Secretary of State Antony Blinken's latest trip to Tel Aviv.
This implication starts to paint a picture that maybe Hamas isn't that bad and that the response to what they did should be limited. This is unacceptable. Israel has a long track record of not only following international law and the rules of war but to their detriment, as the IDF goes above and beyond to spare civilians. The incursion into the Gaza Strip is no different. IDF dropped countless warnings to evacuate south. Hamas, as they always do, forced people to stay for use as human shields to use as "proof" IDF targets civilians. It's a propaganda game they play with people's lives. Western media and members of the Biden administration are falling for it.
Second, after rejecting calls for a ceasefire, the White House is now playing language games in order to eventually get one. They're doing this for political reasons as pro-Hamas, leftist factions in the U.S. scream louder.
"What we're trying to do is explore the idea of as many pauses that might be necessary to continue to get aid out and to continue to work to get people out safely, including hostages," National Security Council spokesman John Kirby told reporters this week in an attempt to explain President Biden's latest position on the issue. "When we're talking about a humanitarian pause, what we're talking about are temporary, localized pauses in the fighting to meet a certain goal or goals."
Democrats, like Senator Dick Durbin and members of the House Hamas caucus, are calling for a ceasefire and using the term.
"An effort should be made to engage," Durbin told CNN.
There was a ceasefire on October 6. Hamas broke it on October 7, just like they broke every ceasefire before then. In fact, the reason October 7 was able to happen is a result of agreeing to a decade of ceasefires and tolerating the existence and delusional management of Hamas as a "moderate" entity. A ceasefire, or "pauses," only allows Hamas to reload and continue its existence. "Humanitarian aid" getting shipped into Gaza is controlled and stolen by Hamas. The group is sitting on 200,000 gallons of fuel and other supplies. They use it for rockets, to keep the air flowing in their underground terror tunnels and to feed fighters. They do this while refusing to give fuel to hospitals and preying on Western emotions as medical care is cut off.
"We will repeat the October 7 attack time and again until Israel is annihilated," Hamas official Ghazi Hamad said during an interview on Arab television this week.
But ceasefire talk doesn't just enable Hamas and spare the terror group from a fatal end; it plays right into plans from Iran's other pet project – Hezbollah.
"You, the Americans, can stop the aggression against Gaza because it is your aggression. Whoever wants to prevent a regional war, and I am talking to the Americans, must quickly halt the aggression on Gaza," Hezbollah leader Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah said during remarks Friday.
Appeasement will lead to a regional war. Strength and force will deter it. The good news is Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and other top Israeli officials are clear-eyed about what needs to be done.
"The current fight against the 'Hamas' murderers is another chapter in the story of national standing for generations," Netanyahu said in his most recent address to the nation and IDF soldiers. "This is the war between the sons of light and the sons of darkness. We will not let up on our mission until the light overcomes the darkness – the good will defeat the extreme evil that threatens us and the entire world."
War is hell. Hamas, with their backers in Tehran, started this. Israel must be allowed to finish it.