OPINION:
In supporting the Israeli war in Gaza to destroy Hamas, President Biden deserves credit. Following the bloody and depraved slaughter of innocent Israelis, Mr. Biden was unhesitating in saying the barbarism of Hamas “must be eliminated.”
Sadly, in the same breath, he unwisely renewed the call for a “two-state solution.”
Mr. Biden seems unaware that a two-state solution between Israel and the Palestinians is moribund. Any hope for such an arrangement was dealt a fatal blow when Hamas attacked Israelis — raping women, desecrating bodies and beheading infants.
Gaza is not a state. It’s a terrorist haven that Israel is putting to the sword, as it should.
Unfortunately, Mr. Biden’s initial advice to defeat Hamas has veered toward diplomatic malpractice in recommending that Israel quickly end the conflict. But Israel’s war in Gaza is every bit a just war, or jus ad bellum. Despite the complexities and confusion of urban warfare, the Israel Defense Forces are conducting warfare in a just manner, or jus in bello.
Predictably, there have been some tragic results while attacking Hamas. Some hostages that Hamas seized on Oct. 7 were accidentally killed as the IDF rooted out the terrorists from their subterranean caves. Yet in doing so, the IDF has also laid bare Hamas’ appropriation of mosques, hospitals and schools to not only shield Hamas cravenness, but also to fire rockets and other munitions at Israel.
Hamas could not care less about jus in bello. Meanwhile, Israel’s just war cannot be ended quickly if it is to proceed effectively. Case closed.
Yet despite the evidence, Mr. Biden and his diplomatic team continue to engage in Middle East malpractice that defies the lessons of war that the IDF has learned from costly experiences battling terrorists. After the infamous March 11, 1978, Coastal Road Massacre perpetuated by Palestinian terrorists that killed 38 Israeli adults and 13 children, and wounded 76 others, Israel struck back.
The IDF invaded southern Lebanon to punish the Palestinian thugs and push them north of the Litani River beyond the range of terrorist rockets and artillery used to attack Israeli communities. The U.S. in short order pressured Israel to end its incursion into Lebanon.
The reason? Then-President Jimmy Carter was worried that Israel’s invasion to deal with the Palestinians would disrupt negotiations between Egypt and Israel to produce the Camp David Accords the following September. In essence, the IDF was pressured to withdraw before the job was completed to rid southern Lebanon of the Palestinian terrorists.
As a result, the next four years in southern Lebanon saw resumed and escalating violence between Israel and the Palestinians. Once again, the situation came to a head in June 1982 with the attempted assassination of Shlomo Argov, who was then Israel’s ambassador to the United Kingdom.
Later that month, Israel invaded Lebanon, this time to finally deal with the Palestinians. But that war turned out badly for both Israel and the U.S. contingent to a peacekeeping force in Beirut. While the Palestinians suffered a major defeat, the U.S. would see 241 of its service members die in a bombing by Iranian-backed Hezbollah, a group that would fill the void left by an evacuating IDF. It’s a threat that persists.
Today, Israel and its fighting forces have no interest in half measures that will not end the Gaza threat. Israel seeks to destroy Hamas. But Mr. Biden and his team are counseling Israel to adopt a truncated strategy that will end the war prematurely.
To the contrary, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is correct to decimate Hamas, demilitarize Gaza and deradicalize the population there. That will take a year, not a week. Indeed, Mr. Netanyahu’s rational goals are diametrically opposed to the mistakes Israel made in Lebanon in 1978 and 1982. Mr. Biden has it wrong in suggesting Israel repeat those mistakes as well as pursue a two-state solution.
Indeed, it’s time to end the two-state mythology involving Gaza and the West Bank. Hamas has proved itself worthy of elimination while the Palestinian Authority in the West Bank is dysfunctional at best.
A wise U.S. policy would be to support Mr. Netanyahu’s objectives to set the conditions for a peace approach that — unlike the United Nations — does not mollycoddle terrorists. A better goal would be a structure to administer Gaza as a demilitarized and civil Israeli neighbor. Such a solution might involve the U.S. and trusted Western allies along with Egypt, Jordan and Saudi Arabia in a coalition protectorate to promote economic recovery and rational self-governance for Gaza.
Once this is done, sever the head of the Iranian snake, without whom the violence of Hamas, Hezbollah and the Houthis would be impossible. It’s time to end — not prolong — Middle Eastern malpractice concerning terrorism.
• L. Scott Lingamfelter is a retired Army colonel and combat veteran (1973-2001) and former member of the Virginia House of Delegates (2002-2018). He is the author of “Desert Redleg: Artillery Warfare in the First Gulf War” (University Press of Kentucky, 2020) and “Yanks in Blue Berets: American UN Peacekeepers in the Middle East” (UPK, 2023).
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