Ruthie Knows
One of my favorite Middle East analysts is Ruthie Blum, who writes for a variety of publications, including the Jerusalem Post. Her parents are the peerless Norman Podhoretz (founder of Commentary magazine) and Midge Decter. So Ruthie’s great writing skill comes from good stock.
Norman Podoretz was and is an arch anti-communist. His wife is a marvelous writer.
I met Ruthie Blum in Jerusalem in about 2005. Since then, I have enjoyed her writing, especially a very insightful look at Obama: To Hell in a Handbasket. Get that book!
Anyhoo, Ruthie’s piece in the JPost this week highlights just one of the problems with the Biden “presidency.” Just as a child that reaches out to touch a deadly spider is clearly doing the wrong thing, the Biden gang is hell-bent on reviving the disastrous Oslo paradigm for the Israelis. With unprecedented peace deals sprouting around the Middle East (and certain Arab states signaling that, no, they are not wed to the Palestinian’s psychotic agendas), Israel is in a better position than perhaps at any time during statehood.
From the Post:
“The capacity of peace-process addicts to delude themselves about the Palestinian war against Israel is as bottomless as it is peculiar. It is they, after all, whose repeated attempts at solving the conflict have failed”
It defies belief that, just as the Americans did in 1991, the PLO bailout (when the terror organization is on its heels) has occurred again. Thirty years ago, Yasser Arafat was just another central casting terrorist in a cave in Tunisia. Next thing you know, Bush Sr. and his advisors dusted off the old killer and made him a statesman. What followed was thousands of Israelis dead and maimed. No Western diplomat cared.
Ruthie rightly points out that Trump followed a new and successful model. As a businessman, he couldn’t afford to adopt policies of failure. Predictably, his stances toward Middle East peace paid off in a huge way. Now, look at what awaits the Middle East:
“Palestinian Authority leaders heaved a sigh of relief. For them, dealing with Democrats in the White House, State Department and Capitol Hill is as second nature as manipulating the European Union and United Nations.
“Their satisfaction at the outcome of the US presidential election only increased with Biden’s appointment of Hady Amr – a foreign-policy wonk with a history of hostility to Israel and sympathy for Hamas – as deputy assistant secretary of state for Israeli and Palestinian affairs. Due to his role in the new administration in Washington, Amr was handed an official letter sent to the White House last Saturday by the PA.
“The letter, whose contents were revealed by the Palestinian news site Amad, averred that all factions in Ramallah and Gaza, including Hamas, agree to establish a state along the 1967 borders with east Jerusalem as its capital; commit to abiding by international law and recognize the Palestine Liberation Organization as the sole legitimate representative of the Palestinian people. The missive also included a vow to continue to exercise ‘peaceful popular resistance’ until statehood is achieved.”
It is painful to watch. Painful to watch the PLO move back into a position of prominence and continuing the mayhem. Does anyone seriously believe Hamas will live in peace with Israel?
In the days ahead, pray hard for Israel. I am praying for the plans of the evil to be thwarted.