Israel’s enemies are also our enemies.
Israel’s enemies are also our enemies.
R ecently, I traveled to Israel to meet with leaders there and stand in solidarity with the Jewish state. This was my fourth trip to Israel, but my first since the October 7th terrorist attacks — and since anti-Israel protests began sweeping the West. I traveled amid direct threats to Israel’s very existence from the Iranian regime, its terrorist proxies, and even international institutions.
Since its founding in 1948, Israel has been a steadfast U.S. ally, a wellspring of technological innovation, and a force for good in the world. This is all the more impressive when you consider that it has suffered near-constant attacks — from enemies at every border, from morally corrupt international institutions, and, since 1979, from an Iranian regime explicitly dedicated to its destruction.
Hamas’s October 7 atrocities were horrific. They included mass murder, systematic rape, and sexual violence against women, the torture of infants, and the kidnapping of hundreds of innocent civilians. While in Israel, I met with the families of Americans still held hostage in Gaza. The family of Itay Chen, a U.S. citizen who was tragically declared dead in March, simply wants to lay their son to rest with dignity. Hamas refuses to release his body.
It makes one thing clear: Israel’s enemies are also our enemies. The Iranian regime and its proxies — Hamas in Gaza, Hezbollah in Lebanon, the Houthis in Yemen, and a multitude of groups in Syria and Iraq — seek Israel’s destruction as part of a multi-stage plan to dominate the Middle East and destabilize the West. The Jewish state is on the front lines of this conflict, fighting with many shared American–Israeli lives.
This makes it outrageous that international institutions are targeting Israel. The International Criminal Court is currently mulling arrest warrants for Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu and senior Israeli officials over supposed “war crimes.” The court isn’t going after Assad in Syria, who gassed his own people. It isn’t going after Xi Jinping in China, who is conducting real-time genocide against the Uyghurs. Instead, it’s attacking a country whose military has gone to great lengths to protect civilian lives. The hypocrisy is astounding.
In the end, no matter what the international community says, Israel has a right to defend itself, and the United States must support its effort to destroy Hamas as a terrorist threat. We also must support Israel against Iran-backed Hezbollah to Israel’s north. Though many Americans are unaware of the fact, Hezbollah’s rockets have already displaced an estimated 80,000 Israelis.
Further escalation or miscalculation from Hezbollah, of which there is an increasing risk, could easily lead to another full-blown war that might then trigger direct confrontation with Iran. Such a conflict, given Hezbollah’s lethal capabilities and weapons stockpile, would lead to devastation for Israel and Lebanon, bring about a humanitarian catastrophe, and jeopardize American interests and security.
The Iranian regime is ultimately to blame for this situation. President Joe Biden must restore President Donald Trump’s crippling sanctions on the Iranian regime, bringing back the “maximum pressure” campaign, and call on Europe to reimpose snapback sanctions. He must also use every tool at his disposal to support the Iranian people, who are bravely protesting their oppressive overlords.
Last but not least, President Biden must face the fact that his foreign-policy weakness is responsible for our adversaries’ aggression. To deter further aggression against American lives and interests, he must establish a credible threat of military force. Israel’s very existence and key U.S. interests hang in the balance — we have a duty to maintain peace through strength.