We applaud President Trump’s standing with Israel after Britain, France and Germany announced their intentions to recognize a Palestinian state in response to Israel’s planned takeover of all of Gaza in a renewed offensive against Hamas and what they say is its creation of a humanitarian crisis there. We believe it will make a world of difference and represents the only realistic pathway to what passes for peace in the Middle East.
Thus, last week, when asked by reporters what he thought of the Israeli move, President Trump responded that it was “pretty much up to Israel.” And when Washington’s Ambassador to Israel Mike Huckabee was asked the same thing he said, “It’s not our job to tell them what they should or should not do. Certainly, if they ask for wisdom, counsel, advice, I’m sure the president, would offer it. But ultimately, it’s the decision that the Israelis and only the Israelis can make.”
Ambassador Huckabee went even further, slamming British Prime Minister Keir Starmer’s statement on Friday condemning Israel’s Gaza occupation plan. Starmer had said that the expanded operations “will do nothing to bring an end to this conflict but would result in more bloodshed on both sides. What was needed was a ceasefire, a surge in humanitarian aid, the release of all hostages held by Hamas and a negotiated solution.”
Huckabee responded, “So Israel is expected to surrender to Hamas and feed them even though Israeli hostages are being starved. Did Britain surrender to Nazis and drop food to them? Ever heard of Dresden, PM Starmer? That wasn’t food you dropped. If you had been PM then, Britains would be speaking German.”
As the Jerusalem Post reported, the American Ambassador was referencing the U.S. and British carpet bombing of the German city of Dresden in World War II during which almost 10 miles of it was destroyed and at least 25,000 people were killed. And Nazi propagandists at the time called it a mass murder.
Huckabee went on to challenge Starmer on how much food his government had sent to Gaza, noting that Israel has already contributed more than two million tons although Hamas seized much of it. Indeed, has anyone seen a malnourished Hamas terrorist in any of the pictures of them shooting their rifles into the air?
Other than perhaps in terms of partisan geopolitical considerations, it is hard to understand Starmer cabal’s underlying logic especially in the light of PM Netanyahu’s stated reasons for escalating in Gaza: “Given Hamas’s refusal to lay down its arms, Israel has no choice but to finish the job and complete the defeat of Hamas. Dismantling the two remaining Hamas strongholds in Gaza City and the central camps – this is the best way to end the war.”
On Oct.7 thousands of Hamas terrorists invaded Israel in a surprise attack, murdered more than 1.200 people and took 250 hostages of whom only a handful remain alive in Hamas custody and all of whom were starved and tortured. Hamas continues fanatically dedicated to destroying Israel and killing its Jewish inhabitants.
So exactly what problem could Starmer, et.al., have on the merits with Netanyahu’s plan for Gaza justifying trying to leverage recognition of a Palestinian state to force a shift in Israel’s Gaza policy?
At all events, the Trump embrace of the notion that decisions relating to Gaza are properly Israel’s to make going forward is a declaration that the U.S. will generally have Israel’s back, despite these or those differences. The U.S. has a veto in the UN Security Council and possesses the world’s most formidable military. Western Europe and Israel’s enemies will likely be advised accordingly.
