Months after President Joe Biden declared from the Oval Office that the United States supported Israel's right to self-defense and "must make sure that they have what they need to protect their people today and always," the White House is once again telling the Jewish State to roll over in the face of violent aggression from one of its terrorist-filled neighbors.
Despite Biden's October 19th call for "an unprecedented commitment to Israel's security" and making sure "other hostile actors in the region know that Israel's stronger than ever" to "prevent this conflict from spreading," the administration is now telling Israel it should not respond to escalating attacks from Hezbollah terrorists in Lebanon.
The Iran-backed terrorists to Israel's north have been launching attacks since Hamas sparked a new war in the region with its bloody massacre on October 7. The last few weeks, however, have seen an escalation in the pace of Hezbollah's drone and rocket attacks.
During the past week 70 attacks were carried out on Israel's northern border, of which #Hezbollah claimed responsibility for 51 of them. May 2024 was the month with the highest intensity of Hezbollah attacks against Israel since October 2023 with 325 attacks. Since the beginning… pic.twitter.com/Exdv8ekJgA
— Israel-Alma (@Israel_Alma_org) June 3, 2024
May 2024 is the month with the highest intensity of #Hezbollah attacks against Israel since October 2023. Throughout May 2024, Hezbollah carried out 325 attacks. Read the full article: https://t.co/3vsqUFbJpo
— Israel-Alma (@Israel_Alma_org) June 2, 2024
Much as Biden told Israel it should not respond to Iran's unprecedented direct attack earlier this year, Biden wants Israel to roll over in the face of this increased violence targeting its citizens, most of whom were already displaced from their homes in northern Israel, evacuated to more central parts of the country due to the threat from Hezbollah.
The Biden administration claims its direction that Israel sit idly by while terrorists launch attack after attack on its civilians is a strategy to prevent the current war from widening or spinning out of control, Axios reported. But the war has already widened and continues to escalate.
Israel is not to blame for that — Biden and his weakness are. He failed to stop Iran's direct assault, the Houthi's ongoing attacks in the Red Sea, or escalating violence in the region. He's only extended the war in Gaza by trying to hamstring Israel and essentially given a green light for terrorists to ramp up their attacks knowing Israel will be told not to respond.
As Richard Goldberg — senior advisor at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies (FDD) — noted, "Americans would never surrender to a Hezbollah-like terror threat on our own border" and "President Biden should not demand that of Israel either."
What's more, FDD senior fellow David Daoud connected Biden's weakness with terrorists ramping-up attacks on Israel from across its northern border. "Hezbollah’s escalation over the past month ties directly to what it perceives as Washington’s constraints on Israel’s freedom of action," Daoud emphasized. Hezbollah, he said, "understands that it can intensify its attacks against Israel and, so long as the United States restrains the Israeli response, that it can do so with relative impunity."
It's the opposite of the peace-through-strength deterrence Biden ought to be using America to provide to Israel and other allies around the world. Rather than causing terrorists to fear the wrath of the United States raining down on them if they go too far, they are emboldened by the knowledge that Biden might shun Israel if the IDF righteously responds to terror attacks on their civilians.
As with every other instance of Biden's failed deterrence since January 2021, America's foes are growing more emboldened by the day while our allies and partners are penalized by electoral politics-driven policies implemented by the president in a feeble hope of locking up his base ahead of November.