The whole world suddenly has an opinion to give the Israelis about Rafah. The question is why
Rafah (properly pronounced Ra’fiah) is all over the news these days. Iran, Egypt, the US, Europe and the UN are all wagging their fingers at Israel and warning her not to mount a military campaign there. Why is everyone so worried about Rafah and the Palestinians there?
Rafah is one of many towns divided by a fence. Half is in Egypt and the other half is in Gaza. Think of towns split in half in Germany, Korea or even the West Bank. I always wondered about former neighbors and friends split by the Iron Curtain. One son became a top executive at BMW while the other fellow’s boy led a brigade charged with shooting people trying to escape East Berlin. In Rafah, there is a great deal of business. Years ago, a video circulated of a car moving through a tunnel between the Egyptian Rafah and the Palestinian Rafah. As Israel controls the northern and eastern approaches to Gaza and the Israeli navy actively patrols the shores off of the Gaza Strip, the only place that is not carefully monitored for contraband and weapons is the Rafah border region, generally called the Philadelphi Corridor.
During over three months of intense fighting, Israeli soldiers have found a vast number of rifles, RPGs, grenades, bullets and other tools of war. Each building has weapons near a tunnel for easy access: a terrorist pops up, grabs an RPG, fires it at an Israeli tank or troop concentration and then vanishes. There is a slow-motion video of such an encounter in which a tank got off its shell just prior to the terrorist firing his RPG. As Israel left Gaza fully nineteen years ago and monitors its border, how could so much weaponry enter the strip? The only answer is via Rafah. Let’s look at the players and why they are demanding that Israel not do its duty to rout the remaining final four Hamas brigades hiding there. Before we do that, I will note that Benjamin (Bibi) Netanyahu said on American TV that Israel will do exactly as it has done in northern Gaza and Khan Yunis: It will alert the population to move, set up corridors to allow such movement and then designate “safe” areas for civilians. Such activities put IDF soldiers at significantly added risk, allow terrorists to blend in with the refugees and get away and provide new places in which to set up rocket launchers and other terror infrastructure.
Iran: Iran obviously does not want to lose Hamas, in which it has invested billions of dollars. Hamas is its chief tool in trying to wipe Israel off of the map. Sure, Hezbollah, Islamic Jihad and others receive generous funding, but Hamas is right there in Gaza and the West Bank, best positioned to attack and kill Jews, as it did so horrifically on 10/7.
Egypt: Egypt has allowed the movement of weapons for decades and during the rule of three different dictators: Mubarhak, Morsi, and al-Sisi. While Egypt destroyed all of the structures on its side of the Philadelphi Corridor and flooded the tunnels, new routes of entry—bribes, newer tunnels—allow for the continued flow of weapons into and people out of Gaza. Egyptian soldiers can presently be bribed to allow for passage out of the Strip. When this war is over, people will not believe the sheer quantity of war materiel that was in such a small space. Egypt risks losing a lot of business and also being exposed as the chief weapons source for the terrorists who murdered 1,200 Jews. It has made noises about the abandoning the Camp David Accords, though all of the fighting and bombing will take place on the Gazan side of the border. Egypt has built a model triple-fence border to keep Gazans out of Sinai. The US should copy-paste it on the Mexican border.
The UN. The UN has been exposed as an active and agreeable partner of Hamas, with dozens or possibly hundreds of Gazan UNRWA employees active members of Hamas. Israel this past weekend discovered under UNRWA headquarters a large Hamas intelligence center including a 700 meter tunnel. And from where did this control room get its electricity? From the UNRWA offices. The head of UNRWA claims that they had no knowledge of the Hamas center under its building. Sure, and I can sell you the Brooklyn Bridge. The UN has chosen sides and will do anything to keep Hamas as a functional fighting force. It thus does not want Israel cleaning out Rafah. There are probably more pro-Hamas UN activities there waiting to be exposed. The UN should be given the Heinrich Heydrich award for keeping the spirit of the SS and Gestapo alive.
The US. Joe Biden has done a 180 on Israel. With the youngins and the Arabs threatening not to vote for him come November, our semi-comatose leader has suddenly demanded a ceasefire, required Israel to prove that it is not violating international norms to receive further weaponry, called for no military action in Rafah, and described Israel’s avenging the raping of its women and beheading of its tottlers “over the top”. Like all of the actors in this drama, Joe Biden couldn't care less about the Palestinian people. They are the modern tool to stick it to the Jews. What he does care about greatly is getting reelected. He’d gladly throw Bibi and Israel under the bus if it guarantees him another four years of not remembering that he is president.
Europe. Europe has always loved Israel’s enemies. For years, they debated if Hamas and Hezbollah were terrorist or social service organizations. As these groups hand out soup and clothes as they fire rockets at Jews, the Europeans were simply confused. So instead of taking Israel at its word that it will move civilians prior to major military activity, Europe demands that Israel not do anything in Rafah. It’s like telling the doctor as he is almost finished removing a very aggressive tumor: “No, no, no, stop, Keep a little in there for the future.” A smaller Hamas, especially if it has its traditional access to the Rafah border, will metastasize back to what it was on 7 October, 2023. Europe likes that there is a foil for the Jewish state. Its leaders say all of the right words and their public support goes up and down based on political winds. But in the end, they want someone who can fight Israel and periodically bloody its nose. Look no further than the Irish women’s national basketball team that last week would not stand at half court with the Israelis or shake their hands. Good that they lost by 30 points.
Israel has the unenviable task of clearing Rafah of its terrorists and Hamas infrastructure. The Israeli people are tired of half-measures and want the job done right. Israel will need to either control the Gazan side of the Philadelphi corridor or have a mechanism that gives it a say over what happens there. Having only three sides covered has proven deadly. The Palestinians can either choose war or a better future. The world can stuff its faux Rafah concerns. If they are so worried about Palestinian citizens, let them take them en masse. Nobody wants them, and when it takes Israel more than four months to conquer a weaponized space the size of Las Vegas, one understands why.