RUTHFULLY YOURS

https://aclj.org/israel/president-biden-must-stop-caving-to-far-left-ceasefire-calls-and-instead-stand-firm-with-israel

As Israel resumed its offensive in Gaza this week, calls for a long-term ceasefire from inside the United States – particularly within the Democrat Party – have remained strong.  Indeed, many had pushed for the previous short-term pause in fighting, which allowed the release of hostages held by Hamas, to remain in place indefinitely.  While we should celebrate the return of innocent Israeli civilians being reunited with their families and loved ones, we must recognize that a long-term ceasefire would play right into Hamas’ hands.  Such a ceasefire would not remove Hamas from Gaza, and it would only encourage future attacks on Israel.

Make no mistake: A long-term ceasefire is exactly what Hamas wants.  In the immediate aftermath of  Hamas’ barbaric acts on October 7, Israeli leaders pledged to wipe out the terrorist organization and the Israeli military has since begun an effective campaign to do just that.  In the face of utter annihilation, Hamas decided to use the hostages it took to ensure its own survival, helped especially by the Biden Administration’s pressure on the Israeli government to allow for a ceasefire.  With the vast majority of Hamas’ forces still intact, there are signs that the Biden Administration is now pushing Israel to accept a long-term ceasefire.

Think, for a moment, of the long-term consequences of such a decision.  The attacks on Hamas were the worst acts of antisemitic violence perpetrated since the Holocaust.  Pressuring Israel to now sign a long-term ceasefire would only encourage future attacks like those we saw on October 7.  It would be a green light to Hezbollah and other Iranian proxies that America will not have Israel’s back, making the region far less safe for Israelis and Americans alike.

Yet this would be perfectly in step with Team Biden’s broader approach to the region.  Its weak, ineffectual responses to the attacks on our own military bases in the region – now totaling over 70 – have further emboldened the Iranian regime.  Biden’s decision to issue a sanctions waiver earlier this month, granting the regime in Tehran access to more than $10 billion, will only fuel more attacks on America and raise the risk faced by Israel and our other allies and partners in the region.

https://www.theepochtimes.com/world/us-efforts-to-extend-gaza-truce-are-objectively-pro-hamas-john-bolton-5540240?utm_source=News&src_

‘I think Israel’s best judgment here is simply to proceed militarily to achieve the objective it says it wants, which is the elimination of Hamas.’

Former national security adviser John Bolton on Saturday criticized the Biden administration for its attempts to extend the truce in Gaza, calling them “objectively pro-Hamas.”

“I think with the initial pause now behind us, I think Israel’s best judgment here is simply to proceed militarily to achieve the objective it says it wants, which is the elimination of Hamas,” Mr. Bolton told News Nation.

“I think the second-guessing by the Biden administration, the efforts to prolong the pause to turn it into a full ceasefire, are objectively pro-Hamas because it denies Israel the self-defense right it has to eliminate the terrorist threat.”

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Israel’s war with the Hamas terrorist group resumed on Friday after a weeklong truce brokered by Egypt, Qatar, and the United States, during which Hamas freed 110 hostages in exchange for 240 Palestinian prisoners.
A day before the truce ended, Secretary of State Antony Blinken urged for a longer truce on Thursday. He said, “Our immediate focus is working with our partners to extend the pause so that we can continue to get more hostages out of Gaza and more assistance in.”
Also on Friday, the White House blamed Hamas for ending the truce. “It’s because of Hamas that this pause ended,” National Security Council spokesman John Kirby said, per USA Today.

“They were just simply unable, failed to produce a list of hostages that could help enable that pause extending,” Mr. Kirby added. “The onus is on Hamas to be able to produce a list of hostages that that they can get out so that we can try to get this pause back in place.”

https://amgreatness.com/2023/12/01/the-floor-is-falling-out-from-under-bidens-ukraine-policy/

Just two weeks ago, President Biden again likened Russian President Vladimir Putin to Hamas. In a November 18 Washington Post op-ed titled “The U.S. won’t back down from the challenge of Putin and Hamas,” he made this comparison and said America will stand against these aggressors to prevent them from wiping neighboring democracies off the map.

I have major concerns about how committed Biden is to Israel in its war against Hamas after its barbaric October 7 terrorist attack, given his lecturing to the Israeli government on how it should conduct the war and increasing anti-Israel pressure against Biden from his progressive supporters. I expressed my concerns about Biden going wobbly on his support for Israel in an October 27 American Greatness article. Unfortunately, this problem is now getting worse.

But let’s talk about Ukraine, a conflict that has been pushed off the front page by the Israel-Hamas War. You know that President Biden’s Ukraine policy is in trouble when MSNBC’s “Morning Joe” show hosts panels, like one held on November 21, to discuss why the war is unwinnable, explain why Ukraine needs to change its strategy to protect the 80% of the country it controls, and encourage Ukraine to pursue a cease-fire with Russia.

Morning Joe host Joe Scarborough and his guests also reluctantly admitted what many members of Congress have long realized: the Biden strategy to arm Ukraine “for as long as it takes” but not send the weapons it needs to win is not a strategy.

Although Scarborough and others in the mainstream media won’t admit it, they now recognize something else about the Ukraine War: that the highly vaunted 2023 Ukrainian counteroffensive that was supposed to turn the tide of the war failed to reclaim a significant amount of territory and may have lost ground to Russia.

As a result, many experts on the right and left have concluded that this conflict has become a stalemate and a war of attrition that Ukraine will eventually lose because Russian forces are dug in and Ukraine is running out of soldiers.

The New York Times reported in August 2023 that Ukraine’s war casualties were estimated at up to 70,000 killed and 120,000 injured. Russia’s estimated casualties of up to 120,000 killed and 180,000 injured were significantly higher, but Russia can more easily absorb these losses since its population is three times larger.

Resistance to the Biden Administration’s Ukraine policy is especially strong in the House of Representatives, where many members have demanded the Biden Administration provide a clear strategy for ending the conflict and reaching a cease-fire instead of just sending weapons to Ukraine. Many House members are also concerned that the Ukraine conflict is consuming advanced weapons that the U.S. cannot quickly replace that may be needed elsewhere, such as to defend Taiwan.

https://www.frontpagemag.com/antony-blinken-iranian-tool/

Under George W. Bush, U.S. foreign policy was nothing to write home about. White House advisors who sought to use 9/11 as an excuse to remake the Middle East – but who had absolutely no understanding of Islam – got us into deadly, expensive wars that ended up accomplishing nothing. Bush himself kept insisting that we weren’t at war with Islam – which he called, either foolishly or dishonestly, a “religion of peace” – but with “terror,” a meaningless formulation that doomed us from the start.

But at least Bush and his people weren’t actively trying to subvert America. Under Obama and again under Obama’s puppet, Biden, things have been different. Obama’s grotesquely fawning praise of Islam in his 2009 speech at Egypt’s Al-Azhar University set the tone. So did his scandalous bow, in the same year, to King Abdullah of Saudi Arabia. The previous year, quoting the Muslim call to prayer – including the Islamic profession of faith – Obama had called it “one of the prettiest sounds on Earth at sunset.”

So Obama’s enthusiasm for such otherwise inexplicable initiatives as the Iran deal made sense. Ditto his palpable hostility toward Israel.

One of the Obama administration’s top foreign-policy figures was Antony Blinken, who during Obama’s first term served as Biden’s national security advisor and, during Obama’s second term, was deputy national security advisor and then deputy secretary of state. His pedigree was striking. In a 2021 article for Commentary, the estimable Ruth R. Wisse wrote about Antony’s paternal grandfather, M.H. Blinken, a proud Jew and ardent backer of Israel, and about M.H.’s two sons, Donald, who became ambassador to Hungary, and Alan, who became ambassador to Belgium. According to Wisse, Donald and Alan’s devotion to American and Jewish interests gave way over the years, alas, to a more internationalist disposition.

https://www.gatestoneinstitute.org/20177/hostage-deal-hamas

Seven weeks into Israel’s military offensive to destroy Hamas as a military and political entity, the Biden administration now seems to be adopting a very different stance, one where it appears ready to scale down its commitment to supporting Israel’s right to self-defence, and destroying Hamas, in favour of a ceasefire deal that would essentially gift victory to Hamas.
Netanyahu has made no secret of his personal reservations about the hostage deal, arguing that any pause in Israel’s military offensive would simply allow Hamas to regroup. The Israeli Defense Forces (IDF), in particular, had been opposed to the deal because they wanted to maintain the pressure against Hamas on the ground in Gaza.
Indeed, Washington’s willingness to impose ceasefires on Israel when its forces have clearly established a military advantage on the battlefield against their enemies has been a constant feature throughout Israel’s 75-year existence.
The Israelis will certainly be concerned at the role played by Qatar, which is one of Hamas’s main military backers, in the negotiations. While the Qataris like to claim that they are simply using their contacts with Hamas to defuse tensions, the fact that Ismail Haniyeh, who masterminded the massacres, directed the attacks from his five-star hotel in Qatar, where he has been granted a safe haven, means the Israelis have every reason to be wary of Qatar’s motives.

https://amgreatness.com/2023/11/24/bidens-appeasement-of-iran-continues-after-hamas-attack-on-israel/

Incredibly, after the horrific October 7 attack against Israel by Hamas (Iranian terrorist proxy), new aggression against Israel by Yemen’s Houthi rebels (also an Iranian terrorist proxy), and a surge in attacks against U.S. forces in Iraq and Syria by Iran-backed militias, the Biden Administration last week approved a $10 billion sanctions waiver for Iran.

Apparently because of how controversial this payment is, the Biden Administration tried to keep it secret. However, it was revealed by Rep. Bill Huizenga (R-Mich.), who entered details of the waiver into the congressional record, according to the Wall Street Journal.

This foolish and dangerous decision to give Iran access to $10 billion is an indication that despite Iran’s responsibility for the recent wave of deadly violence in the Middle East, the Biden Administration plans to continue to appease Iran and has not dropped its determination to negotiate a new nuclear agreement with Iran that is even worse than the controversial JCPOA agreement negotiated by the Obama Administration.

According to the Journal, the $10 billion dollar waiver was part of an unwritten agreement with Iran intended to keep the Middle East quiet until after the November 2024 U.S. elections. As I wrote in American Greatness on August 4 and September 8, this is a secret, unwritten deal agreed to last spring that will give Iran $20 billion in sanctions relief and allow it to enrich uranium to a dangerous level just short of weapons-grade.

This agreement reportedly was negotiated by Biden officials as a secret and unwritten “understanding” to evade congressional oversight.

A $6 billion ransom payment agreed to last August to free five innocent Americans imprisoned in Iran was part of the secret deal. American and Qatari officials froze the $6 billion on October 12 in response to pressure from Members of Congress because of reports that Iran was behind the Hamas terrorist attack against Israel.

However, several lawmakers, including Rep. Mike Waltz, have questioned whether the freeze of these funds is permanent and believe they will be turned over to Iran in a few months after international outrage over the Hamas terrorist attack has faded. The new $10 billion sanctions waiver is an indication that Iran will eventually receive the $6 billion, possibly soon.

https://www.gatestoneinstitute.org/20152/biden-10-billion-prize-to-iran

From the Iranian regime’s perspective, annihilating Israel and the Jews would presumably be a major breakthrough, giving them a dominance over the Muslim world, even greater than Saudi Arabia’s.

The dedicated funds that this new $10 billion will release can now be used to put the finishing touches on the mullahs’ nuclear bomb – to threaten their Sunni neighbors in the Gulf, Europe, and above all, “The Great Satan, the United States. Iran’s plans for cutting “The Great Satan” (and others) down to size are already underway in Cuba and throughout South America. Earlier this month, Israel helped Brazil thwart an attack by the Iran-backed terrorist group Hizballah on Brazil’s Jews.

Sadly, the $10 billion looks suspiciously like a “pretty please” bribe not to try to drive the US out of the region this year [before the 2024 US election]; instead, wait for next year.

The solution is not to give Iran $10 billion as a prize for practicing extensive regional aggression and engineering mass-murder. Real solutions would include cutting the flow of funds by re-imposing — and enforcing — primary and secondary sanctions; incapacitating the port from which Iran sends oil to China; sending Ayatollah Khamenei and the leaders of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRCG) pictures of their homes; making the ruling mullahs seriously aware of military options, such as taking out the training bases and leadership of the IRGC, and employing significant military force when required — for instance now.

Who needs the Nobel Peace Prize when you can have the Biden War Prize? That’s right, the Biden administration announced this week that it plans to give the Iranian regime another $10 billion in unfrozen assets from Oman, apparently as a small token of appreciation for launching a savage war in the Middle East and targeting US troops in the region at least 56 times, wounding at least 56 US servicemen, many with traumatic brain injury — in just one month! Where does everyone sign up?

The total number of attacks on US troops by the Iranian regime since US President Joe Biden assumed office, is (so far) 139: 83 before March, 56 since. This new $10 billion comes on top of the earlier “closer to $60 billion” it already gave the regime by not enforcing sanctions against it.

https://www.gatestoneinstitute.org/20151/iran-oil-exports

As Imperial Japan of 1940 pursued a strategy of aggression and murderous destruction in China, the United States sought to confront Tokyo with a strategy of economic restrictions, trade embargoes, and the threat of frozen financial assets.

President Franklin Delano Roosevelt (FDR) said at the time it was not his intent to bring Japan to its knees but to its senses.

There are lessons from policies and strategies forged nearly 85 years ago that need to be learned and applied as it becomes evident to those even in deliberate denial that Iran remains the malevolent force in the Middle East, masterminding the recent carnage inflicted by Hamas on Israel.

Under FDR, the Commerce Department created a task force of specialists that identified key commodities they believed were vital to Japan functioning as a society and important to their military. From rubber and petroleum to chromium and silk, Japan’s imports and exports were analyzed within the context of their war-making capabilities. The U.S. Treasury would also deploy their analysts to track Japan’s cash reserves, including their tens of millions of dollars that, even then, was a crucial global currency for international trade.

Today, the United States is facing an Iran that has used diplomatic guile, terrorist surrogates, and hidden cryptocurrency transfers to handle everything from paying for imports to funding those who will do their bidding in Gaza and Syria. They are a sophisticated and ruthless enemy. Yet they are strategically vulnerable if America and her allies are prepared to use that most potent of weapons: economic sanctions.

https://www.wsj.com/articles/iran-10-billion-biden-administration-sanctions-iraq-israel-hamas-72bfc33a?mod=opinion_lead_pos3

After the Oct. 7 rampage by Hamas, which is armed and funded by Iran, many Americans wanted to know: Would President Biden still release $6 billion to Tehran? All six Senate Democrats up for re-election in competitive states joined Republicans in calling on the President to freeze the money.

Under pressure, the White House relented, signaling that it will block the $6 billion—for now—but evidently not because it has changed its mind on the wisdom of financing Iran. On Tuesday the State Department reissued a sanctions waiver that gives Iran access to more than $10 billion.

The waiver, first issued in July and now renewed for another four months, allows Iran access to revenue from Iran’s electricity shipments to Iraq. The State Department says this is necessary to keep the lights on in Baghdad. That oil-rich Iraq remains dependent on Iran for gas and electricity is its own scandal, but the excuse doesn’t wash.

The July waiver was part of an unwritten nuclear agreement with Iran. Giving Iran access to these billions could never pass Congress, so Mr. Biden bypassed it. The idea was to quiet the region until after the 2024 U.S. election.

How little peace the money has bought is clear. Even on the nuclear front, new United Nations inspector reports show that Iran’s stockpile of highly enriched uranium continues to grow, Reuters reported Wednesday. Iran now has enough for three nuclear bombs.