The Biden administration's drift away from full support for Israel will cost more Palestinian and Israeli lives. It will encourage Hamas to keep fighting and to keep rejecting proposals for the return of hostages in exchange for a humanitarian cease-fire. It will persuade Hamas that it can win its war, weaken Israel and create distance between the US and Israel.
As former Secretary of State Mike Pompeo put it last month after the US refused to veto a one-sided anti-Israel security council resolution:
"Hamas, when they saw the abstention, were thrilled. The Chinese Communist Party? Happier than heck. The Russians? Happier than heck. The Iranians? Absolutely beyond themselves, thrilled that the United States of America refused to stand up for its ally. I think that's so telling. That's very risky for every American, when you see the United States walk away from its long-term strategic ally and friend in the Middle East."
Had the Biden administration maintained the strong support for the destruction of Hamas that it showed in the immediate aftermath of Oct 7, the fighting might already have subsided and all the hostages been returned. But every time the Biden administration weakens its support for Israel, it strengthens the determination of Hamas to raise its demands and threaten Israel, to the point that Israel cannot possibly agree.
Where are the threats and the pressure on Hamas, Qatar or Iran?
The UN Security Council resolution demanded a cease-fire until the end of Ramadan, with the expectation that it would head to a permanent end of hostilities. The Security Council also called for the release of all hostages, but it did not condition any cease-fire on Hamas releasing a single hostage.
Although Hamas praised —indeed celebrated—the resolution, it has no intention of complying with its demand regarding hostages. Yet, it expects Israel to comply unilaterally with what is demanded of it.
Israel should not yield to these demands. It must destroy Hamas and its leadership, or else Hamas will keep its promise of repeating the barbarisms of Oct 7. No democracy should be required to take that risk with its citizens. If Hamas were to lay down its arms and stop using its civilians as human shields, the death toll would decrease. But Hamas, Qatar and Iran do not want this war to end with Hamas's defeat. They want to see the US and Israel grow further apart, and the Biden administration is playing into its hands and encouraging it to keep doing exactly that.
As soon as it became clear that the US would not veto the Security Council resolution, Hamas raised its demands, making a deal impossible. Why should Hamas agree to give anything when it is getting what it wants from the US, the UN, academia and the left for nothing in return? Although Hamas is losing militarily, it is achieving its broader goals of weakening Israel, while maintaining its ability to regroup and continue to terrorize Israeli civilians with its rockets and other armaments. And it's continuing to garner support among the young, naïve and misinformed.
Recent data show that it is not Israel that causing hunger in Gaza, it is Hamas:
"Hamas, which has been hoarding food and stealing from Gazans, is the root cause of Gazans' suffering. As Congressman Jim Himes, a Connecticut Democrat and ranking member of the House Intelligence Committee, stated in a CNN interview: 'Hamas has a long history of stealing aid, and needs to stop that in the interest of the people that they purport to represent.'"
This support for Hamas increased when the IDF accidentally killed seven aid workers from the NGO World Central Kitchen. Conspiracy theorists claim that Israel deliberately targeted these workers. But why would they possibly do so? They had to know that the world would react negatively to the deaths of these innocent good people, as it has.
Israel is fighting not only to protect its own citizens but also assure that terrorism against anyone is never encouraged or rewarded. In a display of unmatched hypocrisy, the leaders of Hamas sent a message of sympathy to Russian President Vladimir Putin over the terrorist attack on a theater that killed 130 innocent civilians in Moscow. But that and other terrorist attacks in Russia, the US and other countries were actually encouraged by the "success" of Palestinian terrorism, especially by Hamas.
If Hamas is allowed to emerge intact — even if weakened — from the war it started by murdering 1,200 Israelis, it will, as its leaders have vowed, continue to attack Israel time and again until Israel is annihilated, as well as endangering moderate Arab countries and the entire free world.
Hamas and its supporters must be treated like Nazi Germany and fascist Japan were treated at the end of World War II. It must be required to surrender and the people of Gaza must be de-radicalized. Any other endgame will only postpone a repetition of October 7. Except this time, with calls this week for "Death to America" from within the United States, just as terrorism came to a theater near Putin, this time it may be coming to a theater near you.
Alan M. Dershowitz is the Felix Frankfurter Professor of Law, Emeritus at Harvard Law School, and the author most recently of War Against the Jews: How to End Hamas Barbarism. He is the Jack Roth Charitable Foundation Fellow at Gatestone Institute, and is also the host of "The Dershow" podcast.
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