Up Next: Rafah

Everyone knows that to truly defeat Hamas once and for all, Israel will have to launch a ground operation into Rafah, the southernmost section of the Gaza Strip. The Hamas rats have been scurrying that way for four months. It’s the last holdout.

I listened to commentary from Hugh Hewitt the other day; his guest was The Times of Israel’s Haviv Rettig Gur.

(I’m not a fan of Hewitt, who seems comfortable in the Washington Establishment crowd, although he always touts his conservative credential. In any case, it often helps to hear other perspectives.)

Gur said something interesting when asked if Israel would stand down for Ramadan, the Muslim holy month. It’s coming up and Hamas is counting on a reprieve during Ramadan.

Gur replied that the IDF wouldn’t even consider doing that, given the fact that their neighbor enemies have not hesitated in the past to attack Israel on the eve of Jewish holy days (the 1973 War and October 7, for starters). Israel will not be deterred.

In fact, they announced weeks ago that if a serious deal for hostage release was not achieved by March 13, they would go into Rafah. Because Israel now has the upper hand on these demons, I expect the operation to commence at the optimum moment for the IDF. Actually, it’s good to know that Hamas, including the demon-in-chief Sinwar, are nervous about this last battle.

With another enemy, Joe Biden, announcing in his unhinged “State of the Union” address that the U.S. would further undermine Israel by establishing a port to bring in humanitarian aid to Gaza, the IDF’s job is further complicated. In fact, that is one of the frustrating parts of the Hewitt-Gur interview. Gur did insist on having “gratitude” to Biden for his “support” of Israel during this war. The fact is, Biden has always been an enemy of Israel, and his constant meddling in the current war has cost lives and time, and extended the horrors happening to the hostages. He is a malevolent force.

Israel has prosecuted this war in mostly stellar fashion. They went farther and faster (like Patton’s Third Army!) than they probably expected to. Hamas right now is so diminished, they can’t recover once Rafah is done.

A senior military commander told Israel Hayom that the Rafah operation is probably days away.

Rafah has a population of about 170,000 (by comparison, the largest city near me is Springfield, Missouri, with a similar-size population) and is about 20 miles south of Gaza City. This is no two-day thing. It’s more urban fighting for IDF troops, but they’ve become so good at it (their tactics will be studied at war colleges for decades to come), it’s only a matter of time before Hamas is completely destroyed.

What comes next is the issue. The interesting thing is, Israel has stuck to the basic plan from the start. In October, Defense Minister Yoav Gallant said that Gaza would “never go back to what it was.” Netanyahu has continually rebuffed the West in its demands both for an immediate ceasefire and the lunatic ideas spread around about the next ruling body in Gaza. Israel doesn’t want the job, but rest assured, they will maintain security for a very, very long time.

The mainstream media are so evil, they are working overtime to prevent an Rafah attack. CNN says there is “catastrophic” hunger in Gaza. The UN, according to Reuters, says a Rafah attack “must not happen!”

These voices are the shrill Barney Fifes of modern geopolitics. Nothing is going to prevent Israel from finishing the job.

They don’t have another option.

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Are the “Settlements” Illegal?

We’ve heard this one for years, haven’t we? The Left has repeated this assertion—that Israeli communities in the “West Bank” (Judea and Samaria) are illegal according to international law.

As if their malevolent meddling hasn’t done enough damage to Israel’s existential war against Hamas, the Biden Regime is now turning another knife in the Jewish state by claiming that upwards of a million Jews are “illegals”! This from a corrupt gang of criminals that have allowed nine million true illegals to invade our country in the last three years.

Again, it is unconscionable that the Regime is doing this in the middle of a hot war that Israel must win. Threats to withhold needed munitions, constant demands for a ceasefire (IE, a Hamas win), and threats of an unprecedented U.S. resolution against Israel in the UN—all this unleashed at the worst possible moment.

Biden is evil, always has been. But we all know Obama’s goons are in charge.

On the other side, one of my favorite people to have emerged for Israel the last several years is former ambassador David Friedman. He was with President Trump in 2018 when the U.S. embassy was moved from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem. Trump was the only president that didn’t lie by breaking his campaign pledge. It was a momentous event. Friedman proved to be a stalwart defender of Israel and a superb friend of the U.S.

Recently, a reporter for Axios, Barak Ravid, posted on X:

“BREAKING: Blinken overturns ‘Pompeo Doctrine’ and says Israeli settlements in the West Bank are ‘inconsistent with international law. The move comes a day after Israel announces thousands of new housing units in the settlements.”

Blinken of course refers to U.S. Secretary of State Tony Blinken, himself Jewish. It proves that one can betray one’s own tribe.

As I’ve discussed before, Israel deciding to build more communities in their ancient heartland is too much for the devils in Washington. Mind you, this was always the view of equally sinister operatives in the Clinton, Bush, and Obama regimes. But the time had not yet come to publicly betray Israel. Friedman had a classic reply on February 23:

“Blinken is 100% wrong. I researched this for over a year with many State Department lawyers. There is nothing illegal about Jews living in their biblical homeland. Indeed, Undersecretary of State Eugene Rostow, also the Dean of the Yale Law School (who negotiated UNSCR 242), stated that Israel has the best legal claim to Judea and Samaria. For Blinken to announce this in the middle of a war and when the Jewish Sabbath already has begun in Israel is unconscionable.”

By the way, I have always despised the label “settlements” that the Left came up with to demonize Israel. “Settlements” sounds illegitimate and aggressive on the part of the Jews.

And remember something else: Obama wants America to look weak. He worked on that during his two grotesque terms. Remember the downgrade in the U.S. credit rating? Remember pandering to Iran? So now we have “President” Biden appearing to be mentally impaired, and looking like a physical wreck that stumbles, ambles, and wanders. That’s why I say I’m not sure Biden is truly this way. Maybe he is, but the effect is going to be the same per Obama: push the vegetable out there every day not only to weaken America, but also to let Israel know: Washington ain’t with ya, anymore.

Then we have Elizabeth Warren, the chronic liar in the Senate, roasting Israel this week over the the trampling of dozens at an aid site in Gaza. She actually accused the IDF of shooting Palestinians! What a demon.

So official U.S. policy is using the military, media, and diplomacy to harm Israel.

God is watching. May He return soon to set things right.

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