Speaking at a press conference in Israel, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken made a series of foolish remarks that were not conducive to resolving the hostage crisis, the war on Hamas, or reducing the threat from Hezbollah in Lebanon. It’s shocking and embarrassing that the Biden administration would show its allies and enemies alike that U.S. policies remain rooted in seeing the world as they want things to be rather than how they really are.
Blinken was in Israel for his seventh time since Hamas’ Oct. 7 attack on Israel, four months to the date.
“Israelis were dehumanized in the most horrific way on October 7. The hostages have been dehumanized every day since,” he began, before devolving into what’s been called a harsh rebuke of Israel’s conduct in the war. “But that cannot be a license to dehumanize others.”
The idea of dehumanizing others is one that is deliberate, pre-meditated, and evil. It flies in the face of the Biblical notion that we are all created in God’s image. We have seen dehumanization of others many times throughout history, but Israel’s war against Hamas is not one of them. Blinken knows that. The world should know that too. It’s been well documented that Israel has gone above and beyond to prevent civilian casualties, delaying ground operations, and creating corridors for civilians to flee where there is about to be fierce fighting. Israel has dropped millions of flyers and sent SMS messages and phone calls to Gazans, urging them to flee. Israel sent in ground troops, putting their lives at risk, rather than simply carpet bombing Gaza. Israel has allowed humanitarian aid into Gaza, something unprecedented in war to provide fuel, food, and resources knowing that one’s enemy will not only benefit but steal these all from the civilians. And more.
If anything, this demonstrates a superhuman effort to preserve human life—a far cry from what Blinken suggested.
“The daily toll that [Israel’s] military operations continue to take on innocent civilians remains too high,” he continued.
Blinken has apparently accepted the alleged casualties (27,000+) at face value, which is neither documented, reliable, nor does it separate the number of terrorists targeted and killed (over 10,000 by Israel’s count). The figure also fails to draw a distinction between those who are actively part of and supporting Hamas, or those killed by stray Hamas rockets and others.
Blinken acknowledged that “more assistance than ever is flowing into more places in Gaza than at any time since October 7.” But treacherously added that Israel “must ensure that the delivery of life-saving assistance to Gaza is not blocked for any reason, by anyone.” The later remark was a direct swipe at the real pain and anguish in Israel over this issue, and the legitimate democratic right for Israelis to protest the delivery of any humanitarian aid to Gaza without Israeli hostages coming out. Israelis have a right to peaceful demonstration no less than Americans, and Blinken has no right to challenge that.
Blinken used a foolish parallel of the dehumanization by Hamas against Israel and Jews, throughout decades of indoctrination to their children, and on full display on October 7 and since, conflating it with any humanitarian problem in Gaza. Even a genuine humanitarian problem does not equate to dehumanization. Here, Blinken’s rhetoric became offensive and dangerous.
Disregarding the context, venue, and time, Blinken also had the nerve to call for “a concrete, time-bound and irreversible path” to a Palestinian state alongside Israel, both living in peace and security, apparently as a reward for terror. He knows that there is no person or entity capable of leading a Palestinian state that would responsibly advocate for the well-being of Palestinian Arabs and be willing and able to prevent and counter incitement and violence against Israel.
Blinken then declaratively stated that most Palestinian Arabs in Gaza had nothing to do with October 7.
“The overwhelming majority of people in Gaza had nothing to do with the attacks of October 7,” Blinek continued. “The families in Gaza whose survival depends on deliveries of aid from Israel are just like our families. They’re mothers and fathers, sons and daughters, who want to earn a decent living, send their kids to school, have a normal life. That’s who they are. That’s what they want. And we cannot, we must not lose sight of that. We cannot, we must not, lose sight of our common humanity.”
Blinken does not know that for a fact and there isn’t any evidence to support it. There is, however, abundant evidence to the contrary. If only because of Arab polls that show Palestinian Arabs overwhelmingly support Hamas, much less that they have been willing enablers of its reign of terror. This is a result of the indoctrination of Palestinian Arab children that’s occurred for decades, which has created this culture of hate, violence, and dehumanization of Israelis and Jews. Much of this hate under the auspices of the UNRWA, of which the U.S. was a major backer. There is no parallel in Israel.
Blinken would do well to look at how US funding of this system for decades laid the foundation for October 7, rather than to suggest that Israel has lost sight of humanity.
Blinken must know that given the vast physical terrorist infrastructure Hamas built throughout Gaza alone, there is no human way to imagine that it was done without the full awareness and complicity of countless Gazans. If Blinken were right, where are the thousands of Gazans (democratically) protesting Hamas holding hostages, knowing that once they are released their lives will improve vastly.
Blinken was correct in stating that Hamas is “an enemy whose leaders surround themselves with hostages, an enemy that has declared publicly its goal to kill as many innocent civilians as it can, simply because they’re Jews, and to wipe Israel off the map. That’s why we’ve made clear that Israel is fully justified in confronting Hamas and other terrorist organizations.”
He was also right to add, “That’s why the United States has done more than any country to support Israel’s right to ensure that October 7 never happens again.”
But given the rest of what Blinken said, it makes it hard to take him seriously and see the Biden administration as being competent in this situation. The secretary of state’s remarks send a clear and dangerous message to Hamas, Iran, and all the rest of its proxies that it is ultimately a paper tiger seeking to limit Israel’s necessary and justified military response.
Israel is at war to crush Hamas and its ideology, which has hijacked Palestinian Arab society, and every effort must be made to win. Not in this war, or any other legitimate and necessary war,
is it legitimate to cast aside the imperative to win with foolishness embodied in all these comments, including that Israel “needs to put civilians first and foremost in mind.”
Secretary Blinken, Israel does need to put civilians in mind first and foremost. Its own civilians.