Tag Archive for: israel defense forces

Senator: Biden’s Pressure Campaign against Israel Is Aiding Hamas

/in , , , , , , , , /by

On Tuesday, Israel Defense Forces (IDF) began advancing into Rafah, the last remaining stronghold of the Hamas terrorist group in Gaza, gaining operational control of the Rafah Crossing on the Gazan side in a “precise counterterrorism operation,” according to an IDF statement. The operation comes at an extremely fraught time for the Jewish state, as reports emerge about a disputed ceasefire agreement by Hamas, the Biden administration withholding vital munition shipments to aid Israel’s fight for survival, and the deaths of four IDF soldiers at the hands of terrorist mortar fire.

Reports surfaced Monday indicating that Hamas had “accepted an Egyptian-Qatari cease-fire proposal,” but Israel indicated that the proposal “is far from meeting Israel’s core demands.” As Senator Tom Cotton (R-Ark.) observed during Monday’s “Washington Watch with Tony Perkins,” Hamas appears to be taking its cues from the wavering support of Israel by the Biden administration.

“Unfortunately, Joe Biden and Democrats and gullible liberals all across the world have too often fallen for Hamas’s PR info operations,” he noted. “… The one term that Hamas insists upon is that Hamas gets to continue to operate and control Gaza. And there’s widespread agreement inside of Israel, understandably so after the October 7th atrocities, that Hamas must be destroyed. … Hamas was ready to finally sit down and negotiate a deal to release some, if not all, hostages, but they became gradually more stubborn over the last three weeks as Joe Biden yet again began to put more pressure on Israel [and] threatening to withhold ammunition, which they apparently finally did last week, and condemning Israel’s intention to go into Rafah.”

Cotton continued, “Hamas can see all this, and they know that if they just hold [on to] what they’ve got and don’t agree to any kind of ceasefire that involves concessions on their side, Joe Biden may still give them what they want. So where is Hamas’s incentive to release any of these hostages? As long as Joe Biden is putting more pressure on Israel than he is on Hamas, they don’t have much incentive.”

Biden’s pressure campaign against Israel can likely be explained by the continued shrinking support for the Jewish state happening within the Democratic Party. As CNN reported Tuesday, “[O]ver twice as many Republican as Democratic voters now say they sympathize more with Israel than with the Palestinians, a much bigger gap between the parties than earlier in this century, according to Gallup Organization polling.”

As Cotton went on to discuss, that pressure manifested on Monday as the Biden administration refused to approve the shipment of precision bombs to Israel in order to “send a political message” to the Jewish state. The action marks the first time the Biden administration has delayed a weapons sale to Israel since the October 7 Hamas atrocities.

“[I]t may be the worst foreign policy blunder yet of this president’s failed tenure, even worse than the withdrawal from Afghanistan,” remarked the junior senator from Arkansas. “Because while it’s bad enough to try to verbally or rhetorically restrain Israel, it’s much worse to deny it the ammunition it needs in the middle of a shooting war of its own survival. And if they are denying Israel with ammunition resupply, they’re almost surely signaling that to Hamas as well, which just encourages Hamas to dig in and wait out Israel and not release a single hostage.”

Cotton further emphasized that “none of this would be happening if Hamas had not committed the worst atrocity against Jews since World War II. And it could all end today, very simply, if Hamas would release all the hostages and surrender unconditionally. That’s what happens to losers in war, and Hamas started a war that it cannot possibly win militarily.”

In response to those who argue that Israel’s war against Hamas will never succeed because its Islamist ideology can never be destroyed, Cotton pointed out that destroying terrorist infrastructure and taking out terrorist leadership can go a long way.

“[W]hat you can destroy is all of the leaders of Hamas and all of its soldiers and all of its infrastructure, just like we did to the Islamic State under President Trump,” the senator underscored. “And yes, there are still people who subscribe to the Islamic State or Hamas’s hateful ideology, but they don’t control territory the size of Indiana anymore. That’s what Israel can do [and] what it must do. Otherwise, the message that not only Hamas will get, but Hezbollah and Iran, is, ‘We can attack Israel and we can wait out their counterattacks and count on Democrats and Europeans to put enough pressure on Israel that they will ultimately stand down.’”

However, Cotton concluded, “If Israel destroys Hamas, they will get the opposite lesson. And all those Arab nations who have been quietly, or in some cases openly helping Israel will see, ‘We bet on the right horse here.’ Israel is tough and strong and will defend itself, and therefore they will help us defend ourselves against Iran and these terror groups.”

AUTHOR

Dan Hart

Dan Hart is senior editor at The Washington Stand.

RELATED ARTICLES:

The Day Before Biden Admin Announced It Would Withhold Weapons From Israel, It Issued Sanctions Waiver To Allow Arms Sales to Qatar and Lebanon

Biden Faces Pressure At Home As Israel Begins Rafah Operation

Biden’s double game on Hamas should fool no one

No ‘New Definition’ in Anti-Semitism Bill, Says Law Professor

The people setting America on fire

POSTS ON X:

EDITORS NOTE: This Washington Stand column is republished with permission. All rights reserved. ©2024 Family Research Council.

The Washington Stand is Family Research Council’s outlet for news and commentary from a biblical worldview. The Washington Stand is based in Washington, D.C. and is published by FRC, whose mission is to advance faith, family, and freedom in public policy and the culture from a biblical worldview. We invite you to stand with us by partnering with FRC.

IDF Releases Footage Of Fatal Drone Strike Of Senior Hezbollah Official Amid Deadly Day For Terror Organization

/in , , , , , , , /by

The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) released footage of a drone strike that killed a senior Hezbollah official Friday in southern Lebanon.

The IDF named the man they killed as Ali Naim who was “the deputy commander of Hezbollah’s rocket unit,” according to Emanuel Fabian, a Times of Israel military correspondent.

The IDF claimed Naim was “considered to be a significant source of knowledge in the terror group, and leader in the field of rockets” and “one of the leaders for heavy-warhead rocket fire and responsible for conducting and planning attacks against Israeli civilians,” according to Fabian’s tweet. The tweet noted that Hezbollah acknowledged that Naim was killed but did not refer to his rank in their declaration.

The footage released by the IDF showed a car suddenly bursting into flames and debris being scattered from the impact site.

Hezbollah, a Lebanese-based terrorist organization, acknowledged that they had suffered six other losses in the course of “the last 12 hours,” according to Joe Truzman, a Foundation for Defense of Democracies senior analyst.

The tweet incorporated the images of the Hezbollah officials who were killed. Overall, Hezbollah has suffered around 270 dead by Israeli strikes, according to Deutsche Welle, since the terror organization opened fire on Israel on Oct. 8 out of solidarity with Hamas. The Israelis have suffered about a dozen military losses and a half dozen civilian deaths from Hezbollah’s attacks, the outlet noted.

AUTHOR

ILAN HULKOWER

Contributor.

RELATED ARTICLE: Self-Admitted Member of Hezbollah Caught Crossing Texas Border, Says He Wanted ‘To Make A Bomb’

RELATED POSTS ON X:

EDITORS NOTE: This Daily Caller column is republished with permission. ©All rights reserved.

‘We’re Prepared’: Americans Serving In The Israeli Military Readying For Possibility Of Gaza Ground Invasion

/in , , , , , , , /by

Two Americans serving in the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) say they are prepared for possible orders to go into Gaza to engage in a ground invasion to destroy Hamas.

Ben and Hillel, who are both dual citizens of the U.S. and Israel, were called to the IDF reserves after Hamas terrorists infiltrated Israel Oct. 7, killing, raping and kidnapping hundreds of civilians, they told the DCNF. Israeli officials have warned of a possible ground invasion of Gaza by the IDF, according to The Wall Street Journal.

Hillel was visiting the U.S. and observing the Jewish Sabbath when he heard about the surprise Hamas attack. Immediately, he knew he had to go fight.

“I was at the synagogue on Saturday morning, and someone came into the synagogue, she told me about what had happened,” Hillel, who left his wife and ten-month old baby at home in the U.S., told the DCNF.

“We are preparing for all possibilities. My unit has a very specific job … Our main and only goal is to both protect and defend the State of Israel and to make sure that something can never happen again,” Hillel said.

Israeli defense minister Yoav Gallant recently told IDF troops mobilized near Gaza to “get organized” and “be ready,” according to CBS News. The IDF ordered Gazans to evacuate to southern Gaza “for their own safety and protection” on Oct. 13?

Israel has called up roughly 300,000 IDF reservists, which makes up roughly roughly 4% of the country’s population, in the wake of the Oct. 7 terrorist invasion, according to the Washington Post. The move marks the country’s largest mobilization of troops since the Yom Kippur war in 1973.

Ben, one of the reservists, told the DCNF that troops were unsure when or if they would get orders to commence a ground invasion. He and his unit are currently stationed near Gaza.

“I mean, to be completely honest, I have no idea. People are talking, maybe it’ll happen, maybe it won’t happen. We’re prepared for it. If we get that order, we will do it,” Ben, who is from California and is serving as a reservist in the IDF, told the DCNF.

Israel doesn’t plan to take control of Gaza after invading and taking out Hamas, according to the Associated Press, which cited comments from Gallant. Israel also doesn’t appear to have a plan for who would take over as the governing authority of Gaza should Hamas be toppled.

“This is not Israel versus Palestine … This is also all Western civilization, all democratic values that we stand for, progressive values and liberal values that we stand for in the Western world against evil and against terrorism and against Hamas,” Ben said. “Hamas is just one leg of the different terror groups that are around in our vicinity. They’re not even the only one within the Gaza Strip, there’s also Palestinian Islamic Jihad.”

Arik, a Green card holder from New Jersey serving in the IDF, wants to go into Gaza to rescue the hostages still being held by Hamas, he told the DCNF.

“I’m feeling very positive about it. I’m feeling that this is the right thing to do. I think we need to destroy Hamas. Israel cannot live with a border with ISIS. We cannot do it because Israel is the most beautiful country in the world and we cannot live with missiles,” Arik, who requested that his last name be withheld due to security concerns, said.

“We need to clear all the tunnels that restore the life to our citizens. And we need to be sure that there is no more missiles, that all the kidnapped are coming back, that all the babies are coming back to the parents. We can’t live with that, we just can’t. It’s not going to be a ceasefire. We need to bring our kids back,” Arik said.

Hamas terrorists took more than 200 hostages into Gaza on Oct. 7.

Meanwhile, Israel continues to strike terrorism targets in Gaza. It has also done the same in Lebanon with Hezbollah terror targets due to attempted attacks on northern Israel residents.

AUTHOR

JENNIE TAER

Investigative reporter.

RELATED TWEET ON X:

RELATED ARTICLES:

‘Called To Help’: US Veterans Step In To Provide Israeli Military With Lifesaving Medical Aid

Pentagon Sent Marine General To Advise IDF On Gaza Ground Invasion: REPORT

Israeli Army ‘Expresses Sorrow’ As Tank ‘Accidentally Fires’ Into Egypt

EDITORS NOTE: This Daily Caller column is republished with permission. ©All rights reserved.

All content created by the Daily Caller News Foundation, an independent and nonpartisan newswire service, is available without charge to any legitimate news publisher that can provide a large audience. All republished articles must include our logo, our reporter’s byline and their DCNF affiliation. For any questions about our guidelines or partnering with us, please contact licensing@dailycallernewsfoundation.org.