It was extraordinary that in his Op Ed in Saturday’s Washington Post, wherein President Biden made another pitch for the establishment of a Palestinian state – this time to follow the anticipated elimination of Hamas’s military capacity and hopefully political power as well – he never mentioned, much less alluded to, Iran.
Yet it is now common knowledge that while Hamas has a deep and abiding enmity of its own towards Jews and Israel, it has largely been acting as a surrogate for the implacably anti-Jewish and anti-Israel Iran in mounting its terror campaigns against Israel. So, plainly, the elimination of Hamas, per se, without a concurrent neutralization of Iran, does not mean the terror goes away as a Palestinian state takes hold.
To the contrary, the Gaza experience itself points to just the opposite, as well as the other on-site Iran surrogate – Hezbollah – that can be counted on to keep the pot boiling and undermine any possibility that a Palestinian state would place a lid on terror. But that is only part of the problem with the Biden championing a Palestinian state.
It sounds incredible, but to the dismay of many, the Biden administration is now acting to strengthen Iran even as it supports Israel’s current efforts to eliminate one of its other murderous surrogates. President Biden, despite Iran’s violations of the 2015 JCPOA and indicating it was not interested, continued to court Iran to negotiate a new nuclear agreement and sweetened the pot by releasing $6 billion impounded Iranian funds, relaxing some direct economic sanctions, and making it easier for Iran to sell oil.
This inherent contradiction is alarming despite the fact that President Biden has been obsessively trumpeting a Palestinian state ever since coming into office. It did not seem to matter to his team that Hamas, which virulently opposed any negotiations with Israel, was in a position to prevent, in real time, compliance with anything agreed to by the so-called moderate PA president Mahmoud Abbas.
But the lack of urgency regarding Iran takes on greater importance after President Biden’s critical support for Israel in the aftermath of Oct.7. He has provided enhanced weapons, stood with Israel in its determination to root out Hamas and resisted calls for a ceasefire in place and countered the false Hamas claims that Israel was targeting civilians. And no one should underestimate the effect on Iran and Hezbollah of those two aircraft carrier attack groups the U.S. deployed to the region.
All of this means that Israel owes Mr. Biden like never before. Yet Prime Minister Netanyahu has not equivocated his belief – which we believe is shared by most Israelis – that Iran poses an existential threat to Israel and is therefore dead set against having its savage proxy as a next door neighbor.
But Pres. Biden is equally determined. Thus, he wrote in the Washington Post,
This much is clear: A two-state solution is the only way to ensure the long-term security of both the Israeli and Palestinian people. Though right now it may seem like that future has never been further away, this crisis has made it more imperative than ever.
A two-state solution – two peoples living side by side with equal measures of freedom, opportunity and dignity – is where the road to peace must lead. Reaching it will take commitments from Israelis and Palestinians as well as from the United States and our allies and partners. That work must start now.
To be sure Mr. Biden said that “Gaza must never again be used as a platform for terrorism,” but went on to seemingly say Israel couldn’t do anything if the terrorism returned:
There must be no forcible displacement of Palestinians from Gaza, no reoccupation, no siege or blockade, and no reduction in territory. And after this war is over, the voices of Palestinian people and their aspirations must be at the center of post-crisis governance in Gaza.
And then he added what may be the most fateful of all: “As we strive for peace, Gaza and the West bank should be reunited under a single governance structure, ultimately under a revitalized Palestinian Authority, as we all work toward a two-state solution.”
Sounds to us very much like the Palestinian statehood wish list. In fact, Mahmoud Abbas recently called for something very similar and is doubtless salivating at the possible statehood breakthrough via American intermediary role and avoiding having to confront Israel directly.
Of course, despite Israel’s need for American support going forward, no one should expect an old warhorse like Benjamin Netanyahu to roll over especially since it is Israeli lives, not American lives that are and will be paying the price of getting rid of Hamas.
