NANCE: Biden’s Failures Paved The Way For Hamas Massacres

In 2014, I traveled for the first time to the nation of Israel. As a Christian, I had always wanted to journey to the Middle East to see the religious sites where Jesus lived and taught.

During the trip, it was also particularly enlightening to learn about the geopolitical challenges of Israel. The fact that a tiny nation the size of New Jersey could cause so much angst among giant majority-Muslim nations was surprising. Tiny Israel, a nation of 9.3 million people, is surrounded by terrorist organizations that hate and threaten them every day. Countries like Iran have been setting aside their own religious Sunni versus Shia infighting in order to funnel money to groups like Hamas, Hezbollah and the Islamic Jihad.

They mince no words in stating their goal — to wipe Israel off the face of the earth. This is not posturing or bloviating. It’s the plan. 

While in Israel on two different trips, I traveled to a kibbutz near Sderot on the Gaza border to meet some of the Israelis regularly targeted with rockets from Gaza. Each family has a bomb shelter, and many of the children sleep in those rooms so their parents don’t have to wake them up to move them to safety. I asked a woman why she doesn’t leave, and her answer was, “Where would I go?” The Jews have been chased out of and murdered in almost every nation in the world.

There are 50 majority-Muslim nations in the world but only one Jewish state. The Bible clearly indicates in both the Old and New Testaments that the land was given to the descendants of Abraham in an eternal covenant. I left feeling hopeful for the families and small children who lived in that kibbutz.

Yesterday, the world learned that 40 babies were murdered, beheaded and burned in that very place, the village of Kfar Aza.

My heart aches and my soul mourns, as do those of millions of Americans, for the loss of Israelis.

The attacks on Israel, the torture of children, the rape of women, maiming, kidnapping and mayhem in the streets can be partially laid at the feet of President Joe Biden and his leftist enablers, who thought it made perfect sense to reverse former President Donald Trump’s policies on Iran.  

Feckless and feeble. Those are the only two words that describe the Biden administration’s foreign policy, which led to the disastrous withdrawal from Afghanistan and now to a new war in the Middle East.

Biden claims he “stands with Israel,” but his actions speak louder than words. 

Since he took office, President Biden has coddled Iran, removed sanctions and negotiated with a rogue dictator whose goal is the destruction of Israel. Biden released $6 billion to Iran in August in exchange for hostages, and the country’s foreign exchange reserves soared to $70 billion because the Biden administration stopped enforcing sanctions and gave Iran dozens of other smaller concessions.

Biden shut down oil production in the U.S. because the climate sycophants in his party won’t tolerate it, forcing him to negotiate with Iran for their oil and sends them billions that end up supporting terrorism.

Secretary of State Antony Blinken’s lame excuse and obfuscation on the matter tells it all. On Sunday’s NBC program “Meet the Press” he claimed the money was only for humanitarian purposes, food banks and medical equipment and that it was in a South Korean bank. The administration has also announced that Iran has not spent any of the $6 billion and that the money has been re-frozen.

Ok, let’s see if we can get this straight — giving Iran billions and billions of U.S. taxpayer funds did not end up funding Hamas terrorists? Is Blinken not aware that money is fungible? If you give an alcoholic $20 and tell him not to spend it on beer, he’ll just spend a different $20 on beer. It’s all the same to him.

Blinken himself admitted that “Iran has unfortunately always used and focused its funds on supporting terrorism, on supporting groups like Hamas.” The State Department’s own 2021 report on terrorism says the same thing.

There’s no doubt that Biden’s weakness on the international stage has led to this moment. The world watched as the president abandoned thousands of people in Afghanistan two years ago and left billions of dollars in weapons to the terrorist Taliban.  

Radicals in the Middle East see the feckless foreign policy and lack of planning that Joe Biden has displayed, and they could not unreasonably that he’s actively trying to give them the green light.

Earlier this year, Blinken announced that the Biden administration would resume the massive aid to the Palestinian Authority that Trump had canceled, serving up more than half a billion dollars. Assurances were made that none would go to Hamas. Right!

The State Department’s Office of Palestinian Affairs’ initial tweet on the attacks implied that this situation was as much Israel’s fault as that of Hamas and that Israel should not respond in kind. “We urge all sides to refrain from violence and retaliatory attacks. Terror and violence solve nothing,” the tweet read.

So, their view is that Israel defending itself is the moral equivalent of terrorists executing civilians and torturing people?

Now, we can expect Israel’s retaliation to be used to whip up sympathy for citizens in Gaza.

Hamas’ key weapon is dead civilians, which they use to gain sympathy for their cause in the Arab world and beyond. They will try and push as many Gazans into the line of fire as possible. Dead Gazans benefit Hamas and hurt Israel’s reputation. Hamas will try to get as many killed as they can — that is why they put their headquarters in hospitals and schools.

In the streets of Gaza, two cheers went up: “Death to Israel” and “Death to America.” No doubt America is next, and the scenes from our beloved ally Israel could make their way to our shores.  

The Democratic Socialists of America — a group that includes six members of Congress — announced a pro-Palestine rally in New York City, where one attendee displayed a swastika. Other pro-Hamas demonstrations cropped up in cities and on college campuses across the country and around the globe. These indicate a lust for more violence, even in the midst of the horrific images coming from Israel. I had thought this level of antisemitism was a thing of the past.

Iran and Hamas, and apparently all those chanting “Death to Israel” in cities across the world, want to make sure Israel is never at peace with its Arab neighbors. In the short term, this means stopping the agreement between Israel and Saudi Arabia that would push the Palestinian question aside and normalize relations between Israel and the wealthy Gulf kingdom.

That’s what the terrorists fear most! Peace is not their plan, only death and destruction. This agreement would be the nail in their coffin.

If Biden wants to prove that he really stands with Israel and not with terrorists of Hamas, Hezbollah and Iran, then he will work to keep these negotiations on track and get the deal done. 

U.S. officials have been telling Saudi and Israeli officials in calls over the weekend that they are hopeful the discussions will continue, but as the war goes on and Gazan casualties pile up, there’s a good chance the radicals in Biden’s party will lead him astray.

Our prayer is for the peace of Jerusalem and the Jewish state, and we must all declare her right to exist and pray without ceasing as we wait for the Lion of Judah to roar into combat as the IDF goes forth to take back their kidnapped people. Roar, Lion. Roar. 

Penny Nance is CEO and President of Concerned Women for America, the nation’s largest public policy women’s organization.