US President Joe Biden sent an unequivocal message on Tuesday that Hamas alone was responsible for the current war in Israel and for the suffering it has and will produce.
But in the early hours of this conflict, the Biden Administration didn’t seem to have a clear and coordinated response to the Hamas invasion of southern Israel. Either that, or like many others, it didn’t grasp the unprecedented nature of what had occurred.
In remarks that echoed American responses to just about every other previous escalation between Hamas and Israel, Secretary of State Antony Blinken and the US Office of Palestinian Affairs (unbelievable that that even exists) both tweeted calls for restraint and a ceasefire.
But as the fury rose in Israel and a groundswell of unconditional support for the Jewish state grew worldwide, they quickly deleted those tweets.
Of course, on the Internet nothing ever truly disappears, so screenshots are still available of both flubs.
Secretary of State Antony Blinken deleted his tweet calling for Turkey to broker a ceasefire between Israel and Hamas. pic.twitter.com/HiXK0rAzdw
— Citizen Free Press (@CitizenFreePres) October 9, 2023
Deleted, but the internet is forever. https://t.co/Y8uYJC0t3d pic.twitter.com/jzPOHIyXED
— Eitan Fischberger (@EFischberger) October 7, 2023
In Israel there is absolutely zero willingness to hear anything about any form of a ceasefire. Gaza will be invaded. Hamas will be crushed. Nothing less will be tolerated after the unspeakable atrocities of Saturday, October 7, 2023.
As one IDF spokesman stated: “In Gaza they wanted hell. They will receive hell.”
To put this in terms Westerners can understand, pushing Israel for a ceasefire now would be like going back in time and telling Poland, France, Britain and the rest of Europe that they should seek a ceasefire with Adolf Hitler and the Nazis, even after knowing what we now know.
Hamas has been exposed as a group that cannot be reasoned or treated with. Like ISIS, Al Qaeda and the Nazis.
History teaches us that such groups can only be defeated and eliminated.
To demand that Israel accept anything less in the case of Hamas is to be anti-Israel.
The problem is: Hamas is also present in Judea and Samaria.