The Mothers of IDF Soldiers group led a demonstration last week of army mothers, reservists in the Israel Defense Forces, bereaved families and other concerned citizens outside the U.S. embassy in Jerusalem. They demanded that President Joe Biden stop leveraging power to force Israel to resupply Hamas.
The following day, hundreds of Israelis, including parents of soldiers, families of hostages and terror victims gathered outside Ashdod Port. For hours, they blocked trucks laden with supplies for Gaza from exiting the port. Activists have been blocking trucks from entering Gaza via the Kerem Shalom and Nitzana border crossings for more than two weeks.
Speaking to the crowd in the southern Israeli city of Ashdod, Shifra Shahar, who runs a nonprofit organization that cares for the needs of soldiers, addressed her remarks to Israel’s leaders:
“Government of Israel, defense minister, IDF chief of staff, get ahold of yourselves!
“We had elections last year. I don’t recall voting for [U.S. Secretary of State Antony] Blinken! Blinken is sitting in the war cabinet and protecting the interests of my enemy. … We have sons in Gaza. We have sons fighting. The entry of the trucks endangers them, prolongs the war, increases the number of casualties and delays the return of the hostages!
The rising expressions of rage at the Biden administration from ordinary citizens are a testament to the shock and anger Israelis feel at what they perceive as a betrayal of Israel’s most basic interests by Biden and his top advisers.
Since Oct. 7, the Biden administration has been insisting that it has no evidence that Iran had prior knowledge of Hamas’s attack. As Iran’s other regional proxies—Hezbollah, the Houthis, the Iranian-controlled Shi’ite militia in Iraq—have joined the war against Israel and the U.S., the Biden administration has maintained its stubborn refusal to acknowledge that Iran is the head of the snake. But facts are stubborn things.
Iran controls all of its proxies. Ahead of Oct. 7, Hamas terrorists received training for their mission of slaughter in Iran and Lebanon. In the months before the Oct. 7 invasion, Hamas terror-masters met in Beirut at least twice with Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps leaders and their Hezbollah counterparts. Iran funds, arms and trains all of its proxies. An Iranian spy ship in the Red Sea is directing all the Houthi missile and drone attacks against Israel and commercial shipping in the Red Sea.
While directing its proxies’ operations, Iran itself is sprinting towards the entrance to the nuclear club. According to the International Atomic Energy Agency, Iran has massively expanded its near-bomb-grade-level uranium enrichment and has effectively become a threshold nuclear state.
These realities present Israel with an unacceptable threat environment that it must counter militarily or risk its physical destruction. For the Biden administration, these realities present an opportunity to force Israel to agree to lose in Gaza and Lebanon and establish a Palestinian state or lose U.S. support and be compelled to stand up to Iran and all of its proxies on its own with insufficient weapons and no diplomatic backing from Washington.
Addressing his government at its weekly meeting Sunday, Netanyahu noted the discord with the Biden administration.
“Israel is a sovereign state,” he began.
“We greatly appreciate the support that we have received from the Biden administration since the outbreak of the war: In weaponry, at international institutions, in sending forces to the region and more. This is not to say that there are no disagreements among us but as of today we have succeeded in overcoming them with determined and balanced decisions.”
He went on, “As a sovereign state that is fighting for its existence and its future, we make our own decisions; even in those instances where there is no agreement with our American friends.”
Seemingly with each passing day, the Biden administration announces a new initiative aimed at undermining Israel’s ability to defend itself, either by limiting its military options, constraining its diplomatic maneuvering room, empowering its enemies or inducing domestic discord and social cleavages. At a certain point in the not-so-distant future, Netanyahu will need to say “no” to the administration. It can only be hoped that the vast majority of Americans, who stand with Israel against its enemies, will stand with Israel when we arrive at that point.
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