OPINION:
On his visit to the Middle East, President Biden talked a lot about humanitarian aid to the people of Gaza instead of the need to destroy Hamas, an Islamist terrorist movement that murdered 1,400 Israelis and took 205 hostages while raping, torturing and pillaging others.
While Mr. Biden’s comments about humanitarian aid may have had good intentions, they did not buy him even a meeting with Jordan’s King Abdullah, Egyptian President Abdel Fatah al-Sisi or Palestinian Authority Chairman Mahmoud Abbas.
This left the president isolated in the aftermath of the tragedy at the Al-Ahli Baptist hospital in Gaza, a painful reminder that the cowed, brainwashed and defenseless population of Gaza are sitting ducks in the current confrontation between Hamas and Israel.
The president may believe he “won” a concession from Egypt by getting trucks of food and medicine to the babies and mothers of Gaza, but it would be magical thinking to believe these supplies will not be redistributed to the Hamas terrorists who control the Gaza Strip.
Some have suggested establishing “safe zones” in Gaza. These are easy things to say but almost impossible to do.
Therefore, sending aid to Gaza is not a practical solution unless the West wants to risk sending supplies to the very terrorists holding hostages and waging war on Israel. One week after the attacks, the U.N. Relief and Works Agency reportedly posted on X that it had received reports a group of people with trucks removed fuel and medical equipment from the Ministry of Health (the post has purportedly since been deleted).
There is another way the international community can help both Israel and the Gazans, however, without aid falling into the wrong hands and without requiring pacification from Israel.
The Egyptian government, despite all the U.S. aid it gets, is loath to get stuck with the financial and security tab that hosting innocents from Gaza in a well-policed relief area outside the Strip would entail. This is understandable since refugees would need shelter, food, water and medical attention under watchful eyes that could detain any Hamas fighters who may have tagged along.
But if a coalition of the concerned contributed funds and put together much-needed supplies, medical expertise, tents and security, Egypt might be persuaded to open its borders and clear the Gaza Strip of innocent civilians. With lifesaving facilities established outside the conflict zone, the Israelis could do the dangerous and necessary work of clearing Gaza of the Hamas death cult that has infested it.
So far, not one country, much less the United Nations, has come forward with an offer to shelter the Gaza civilians outside the zone of the coming war. Talk is cheap. Put up or shut up.
If world leaders are genuinely concerned about Gaza’s women and children, then it is time to step up, get them out of harm’s way, and let the Israelis administer justice to the murderers who have no mercy for babies and children. The attacks on Israel were merciless, and the dead cry from the ground. Too many Israelis were burned alive and beheaded, grandmothers taken captive, women dragged off and raped. Israel cannot afford to fight with its hands tied behind its back.
Hamas will never do anything other than abuse, brainwash and endanger Gazans while embezzling international aid money and turning the Gaza Strip into a hellhole of attack tunnels and terrorist training camps. Still, Western and Arab leaders afraid to counter the poison are abetting the abusers by refusing to face what is happening, thus sending mixed signals to Israel.
The only logical solution is that Hamas be broken once and for all. Israel will never be safe otherwise. Neither will the rest of the world. Jihadi terrorists and their paymasters would love to eat Israel alive, but that would only be the appetizer. Europe and the U.S. would be next. Let’s not forget the chant “Death to Israel. Death to America.” That copyright is registered in Tehran.
So, without evacuating Gaza residents, brace for more hysterical accusations from Hamas and pictures of suffering civilians. It is how they fight. Message to the world: If you genuinely have humanitarian concerns, put up your dollars, pounds, euros, riyals and dirhams to ensure that Gazan civilians can escape without paying for the crimes of the murderers who have held them down far too long — all the while using them as cannon fodder and shields.
• Rena Cohen is the founder of the Books for Israel Project, a volunteer effort that provided English-language books for Jewish, Christian, Muslim and Druze schools in Israel. She was born in Kibbutz Nachshon, Israel.
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