Gaza

It's been a year to the day since Hamas terrorists from the Gaza Strip crossed into Israel and murdered young people at a music festival that started out as being like Woodstock but ended up being twelve times worse than Altamont.  You would think that after a year of relentless bombardment of the strip, Hamas would be completely obliterated and the Israelis would be in complete control and the war would be over, as the Israelis clearly identified the enemy as Hamas, not "terror," as the U.S. did after 9/11 and chose to fight a war against a tactic more than against an organization.   

One year on, not only is the war against Hamas is still going on , but a series of  military operations between Israel and the Iranian-backed Hezbollah organization in Lebanon has begun and subsequently intensified.  What could happen if these military operations increase?  World War III, that's what.  Or worse.  How could it be worse? Add hostility from Arab-American and American Muslim populations in key swing states toward Kamala Harris and the evangelicals flocking to Donald Trump who believe that Armageddon is at hand, and, well, you can draw your own conclusions. 😱 

Rape?

There are credible accusations against Hamas for having raped and mutilated Israeli women when they stormed into Israel this past October 7.  

Yet no one in the left seems to care.  Representative Pramila Jayapal (D-WA) downplayed it in an interview with CNN's Dana Bash, who is Jewish.  When Jayapal pivoted to the deaths of innocent Palestinian civilians at the hands of the Israeli Defense Force, Bash admitted that was true, "but you don't see Israeli soldiers raping Palestinian women."

"I don’t want this to be the hierarchies of oppressions. This is not how we’re going to defeat terrorism," Jayapal replied.

Look.  I've said it before and I'll say it again.  I'm Irish, I was raised Catholic, and I believe that Irish-American Catholics should be on the side of the Palestinians because of Ulster.  Not to mention because of nine hundred years of oppression at the hands of the English before the fictitious "Northern Ireland" was created  But when at any time during the Troubles did commandos of the Irish Republican Army rape and mutilate Protestant women?   I certainly can't think of any such examples.  

We should support the Palestinians.  But we should not support Hamas.  There's a difference.

Middle East Mess

Israel might be President Biden's Achilles heel.

The heavy-handed removal of Palestinian families in East Jerusalem and the police raid on the al-Aqsa mosque has started what amounts to a war between two peoples and between a country and territories it currently "occupies."  And while President Biden tiptoes to reach some sort of cease-fire to bring the violence to an end even as Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu milks the crisis for all it's worth, Democrats grow increasingly hostile to Israeli air attacks on the Gaza Strip.  Meanwhile, Republicans are hoping to galvanize support for them by standing in solidarity for Israel against Hamas rocket attacks.  

This isn't just a foreign-policy problem.  This is a battle in which civilization is at stake.  And President Biden can't make a wrong move without thinking it could cause greater trouble in the region.

This is a time bomb that could detonate into an explosion of biblical proportions.