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The mixed messages being sent to Israel from the White House

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu meets with US National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan, Dec. 14, 2023 (Photo: Amos Ben-Gershon/GPO)

You could almost get whiplash from the rapidly changing positions of the White House when it comes to their short-lived support for Israel’s fight against the brutal Hamas terrorist regime.

Just check out this timeline:

Oct. 12:  U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken arrives in Israel assuring the country: “We will always be by your side. We’ve got your back.”

Nov. 30:  Blinken returns to Israel to say, “You don’t have the credit” (to continue this war for months).

Dec. 10:  Blinken tells Israel it has to wrap things up by the New Year.

Dec. 14:  Axios media reports that U.S. National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan tells Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu that Israel’s war “needs to transition to the next lower intensity phase in a matter of weeks, not months.”

Dec. 15:  Fox News reporter Jacqui Heinrich appears on Fox and Friends, saying that U.S. officials told her Sullivan attached no timeline to these conversations and the U.S. has not been giving Israel directions but asking questions and offering advice.

Dec 15: U.S. Vice President Kamala Harris wants “the White House to show more concern publicly for the humanitarian damage in Gaza where Israel is locked in a bloody and prolonged battle with Hamas.”

If you carefully examine the above comments, there is almost a schizophrenic back and forth between support, marginal support, qualified support to no support. The truth is that it doesn’t take much to understand that the Biden administration has adopted an evolving position that is clearly not based upon personal conviction or lack of moral ambiguity.

That is because their support is largely fueled by political considerations. As the voices of progressives and Israel haters begin to grow louder, the White House lackeys shake in their boots, ready to obediently bow to whatever demands are made. Those demands include stopping us mid-stream in order to prevent a complete end to the existential threat which is intended to never go away. But then it can’t, if you’re not allowed to eradicate it.

This is the vicious cycle of partially fighting a war. It leaves you with a few gains but never enough to guarantee peace and safety for more than a year, at best. Ironically, while the Biden administration is clearly calling the shots, according to their prescribed timeline, they don’t want to be caught doing so because they like to hedge their bets.  

On the one hand, if too many Palestinian deaths are recorded, they don’t want to appear as those who sanctioned an ongoing war that killed too many. On the other hand, there is surely a part of them that knows it is to the benefit of the United States and Europe to allow Israel to do the dirty work for which no one else is equipped, on any level, to undertake and, most importantly, to finish.  

So, the administration is cautiously treading a fine line so as to not make a mistake or offend either side. The problem is that when a position is taken that does not emanate from personal conviction, there is always the need to look over one’s shoulder to make calculated adjustments based on the opinions of others rather than staying the course, simply because it’s the right thing to do.

Another problem is that ill-informed individuals, with almost no contextual understanding or experience, are the ones making crucial decisions based on their desire to retain popularity. They are also listening to skewed and erroneous information meant to emotionally manipulate their responses. And it’s working!

One example can be seen in the vast numbers of dead Palestinians being reported, all furnished by Hamas, which no one can substantiate. These numbers are, nonetheless, accepted and held as undisputed fact by many human rights agencies, as well as the Biden administration, many of whom are already predisposed to believe the worst about Israel.  

Israeli spokesman, Eylon Levy claims that many of the dead Palestinian civilians were the direct result of Hamas terrorists. Levy tweeted: “We hold Hamas responsible for all tragic civilian deaths in Gaza – those killed by its misfired rockets and those it prevented from evacuating.”

When critical decisions are made by politicians who are naïve and gullible enough to blindly accept lies, purposely inflated numbers and unsubstantiated accusations, then the result is to allow the head of the snake to survive and the possibility of many more savage attacks to take place, not only in Israel but throughout the world. This is a regrettable folly for which humanity will pay a heavy price! 

Sorry to say, but the Biden administration is comprised of exactly enough inexperienced amateurs who are completely out of their depth when it comes to the complexities of a centuries-long conflict – which is actually more of a dark spiritual battle than anything else – definitely not up their alley. 

Yet, these same ignorant people are making life-and-death decisions that will affect future events for all of us. If there was ever a reason to do one’s homework before voting for elected officials, this is it!

We are all watching a bumbling administration try to figure out, on an hourly basis, what scenario is in their best interest, and that is just no way to “wing it” when it comes to the dangerous world in which we live. It serves no one, and only ends up emboldening evildoers with bad intentions.

Conversely, having the best interests of the world starts with people who possess integrity, a backbone, wisdom, understanding, cleverness and strong principles! Without those characteristics, everyone is at the mercy of self-interested, disloyal and unethical individuals whose sole considerations are based on what keeps them in power. It is the worst possible governance that could exist, but it is the unfortunate reality in which we are all living. A comprehensive understanding of good vs. evil, as well as the resolve to annihilate the enemies of mankind, is also a prerequisite for those who aspire to be righteous leaders. 

Mixed messages are never a good tactic and often end up undermining trust, unity and confidence in those who are sending the confusing and unclear communications that have double meanings. For us, though, the message is loud and clear.  

America, under the Biden administration, has our back when it benefits them, but when it doesn’t, Israel is either on their own, at best, or obliged to do as they say, at worst. Let’s hope that Israel’s leadership decides to do the right thing for its people, and for the rest of the world, who obviously can’t count on any other government to have their backs!

A former Jerusalem elementary and middle-school principal and the granddaughter of European Jews who arrived in the US before the Holocaust. Making Aliyah in 1993, she is retired and now lives in the center of the country with her husband.

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