Time and again, the Biden administration undermines Israel's pressure levers on Hamas meant to compel the terror group into a prisoner exchange deal. For long months, it has done so by flooding the Gaza Strip with food and fuel, not allowing the humanitarian crisis to be leveraged to pressure the organization or encourage the local population to rebel against Yahya Sinwar and his gang.
Biden and Blinken did this by granting Hamas over a month of "breathing room" and a de-facto ceasefire during the last Ramadan without any quid pro quo, in the name of "religious sensitivity and consideration." They are doing it again now through an outrageous threat against Israel to withhold offensive weapons in its battle against the new Nazis hellbent on its destruction while torpedoing another crucial pressure point on Hamas in Rafah.
At best, the Biden administration has been exacerbating conditions for a prisoner exchange for months, significantly increasing the price Israel must pay. At worst, it is delaying the deal's execution for many more days, only encouraging Hamas to harden its terms. Along the way, it has also reinforced Sinwar's natural tendency to keep Israeli captives as a life insurance policy and for maintaining some grip on Gaza. Inadvertently, the Biden administration has also reinforced the belief among many Palestinians in Hamas and the Palestinian Authority that kidnappings, terror, and massacres pay off and should continue.
How unfortunate that American Jews do not exert even a fraction of the pressure that offshoots of the Muslim Brotherhood apply through campuses and other anti-Israel lobbying groups. Such pressure is needed, if only to counterbalance the Muslim lobby's hostile influence that detrimentally sways the American president against us.
If for American Muslims Palestine is the "first homeland," then for American Jews, Israel is at the very least the "second homeland." They need not vote for Donald Trump, which may be a bridge too far for many, but can simply threaten Biden's prospects with staying home on Election Day. The president may then realize that not only antisemites and supporters of the new Nazis in America wield political clout. This is permissible, legitimate, and part of the democratic game accepted in the US. The Muslim side understands and implements this; it befits the Jewish voice to act swiftly as well, for Israel is fighting an existential battle. Biden well knows who the good and bad actors are in today's Middle East reality, but for him to act accordingly, significant counterpressure from American Jewish lobbies is required.
Israel's de facto surrender to American diktats stems from its massive dependency on US-made munitions – another offshoot of the October 1973 debacle that will also require investigation.
Meanwhile, Israel's top strategic, political, and scientific-operational minds must convene to try creating an alternative (or complementary) arsenal to American weaponry. The proper path is diversifying our procurement markets, but primarily reopening domestic production lines abandoned a decade ago in favor of US dependence, including for basic munitions.
