Biden Should be Threatening Qatar and the Terrorists, Not Israel
by Bassam Tawil • March 15, 2024 at 5:00 am
Biden's reported threat to halt or suspend US military supplies to Israel if the IDF enters Rafah is what encourages Hamas to continue fighting and reject every proposal to release the hostages. When Hamas leaders hear that Biden is threatening Israel to prevent the IDF from entering Rafah, they must say to themselves: "Why should we make any concessions to Israel? America doesn't want the Israelis to destroy the four remaining battalions. The US administration is opposed to Israel's plan to eliminate Hamas, so let's wait!"
A total defeat means the elimination of all of Hamas's battalions. An Israeli victory will never be complete as long as one, or even half, a Hamas battalion remains intact.
Biden is actually sending a message to Hamas and Iran's other terror proxies, including Hezbollah, Palestinian Islamic Jihad and the Houthis, that America is about to throw Israel under the bus. Cutting off US weapons supplies to Israel is the ultimate fantasy of the terrorists.
The administration could show impressive leadership and in fact "bring this to an end as quickly as we can" -- not just for Israel but for all in the region who are seeking peace -- by encouraging Israel to take out the terrorists in Rafah without delay.
Instead of pressuring Israel, Biden should be pressuring his friends in Qatar to force their Hamas puppets to hand over the Israeli hostages and surrender. Instead of threatening to cut off weapons supplies to Israel, he should be threatening the leaders of Qatar with the withdrawal of US forces from the country's Al Udeid Air Base and to officially designate Qatar as a State Sponsor of Terrorism (for its funding of Hamas, Hizballah, ISIS, Al Qaeda, Taliban, Al Shabab, Al Nusra Front, among others).
This is the way – the only way – to end the war quickly, as well as to send a signal to America's adversaries looking on, that the US is prepared to uphold the values of civilization, not the values of terror.
US President Joe Biden will consider conditioning military supplies to Israel if the Israeli army moves forward with a large-scale invasion of the city of Rafah in the southern Gaza Strip, according to four US officials.
Biden has also told MSNBC that a Rafah operation would cross a "red line," although he balanced that statement with a commitment to support Israel's right to self-defense.
Israeli security sources have revealed that the Iran-backed Hamas terror group has at least four battalions in Rafah. Many of the Israeli hostages kidnapped by Hamas terrorists and other Palestinians on October 7, 2023, are also believed to be held in Rafah.
The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) have succeeded in destroying most of Hamas's battalions in other areas of the Gaza Strip.
Israeli forces have dismantled 17 of Hamas's 24 combat battalions in the Gaza Strip, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu announced on February 4.
