The Israel-Hamas war is top of mind in DC right now, and some statements coming from this administration are starting to make some members of the Republican Party rather uncomfortable.
At the top of that list is Defense Secretary Austing, whom Senator Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) says he has “lost all confidence” in.
Secretary Austin appeared at the Reagan National Defense Forum this weekend and made some comments that have piled on the idea that this administration is waning in its across-the-board support for Israel.
Austin made it quite clear that this administration is pressing Israel on exactly how it can fight this war.
For instance, Austin stated:
“But democracies like ours are stronger and more secure when we uphold the law of war. So we will continue to press Israel to protect civilians and to ensure the robust flow of humanitarian aid.”
Austin even stated that he is pushing Israel in this direction, adding:
“And so I have personally pushed Israeli leaders to avoid civilian casualties, and to shun irresponsible rhetoric, and to prevent violence by settlers in the West Bank, and to dramatically expand access to humanitarian aid.”
Republicans are having a more realistic approach to this war, specifically because of how Hamas chooses to fight, using civilian areas as shields.
They also seem to reject the administration’s premise that Palestine as a whole is not hostile toward Israel and its people.
Graham, in responding to Austin’s comments, stated:
“He’s so naive. I mean, I’ve just lost all confidence in this guy.
“How about focusing on protecting our soldiers, men and women in Syria and Iraq? Strategic defeat would be inflaming the Palestinians? They’re already inflamed. They’re taught from the time they’re born to hate the Jews and to kill them. They’re taught math by, ‘If you have 10 Jews, you kill six. How many would you have left?’”
Graham continued that the idea of fighting “a tranquil population” is entirely wrong. He added:
“This is a radicalized population. I don’t want to kill innocent people. But Israel is fighting not just Hamas, but the infrastructure around Hamas.
“Look what happened to the Israeli hostages when they were presented to the Palestinian population. It’s beyond naive.”
Graham also chastised Austin for publicly criticizing Israel in public, specifically noting that if anyone had told the United States to hold a cease-fire with al Qaeda after 9/11, they would have been laughed right out of the room.
Graham really hit the nail on the head here, as we are just not being told the complete truth by this administration about Palestine.
Nobody wants to see innocent civilians die, but we still have to ask why the people of Palestine are not openly helping to root out and destroy Hamas.
If you truly want them gone, truly do not support Hamas, and want real peace with Israel, helping Israel destroy Hamas would seem like the logical thing to do in order to bring this war to a conclusion as soon as possible.
From my perspective, the administration is feeling pressure from the far-left members of the party who have openly supported Palestine even before this conflict with Israel started.
That faction of the party is now threatening to remove its support from Biden in the upcoming election. While this is not a significant block of Democrat voters, it would be enough to stop Biden, considering how thin of a margin he has right now.
The problem for Biden is that if he appeases that demographic, he risks losing moderate and independent voters, not to mention the Jewish community as a whole, which is a significant block of Democrat voters, and that would spell complete disaster for Biden and the entire Democrat Party in 2024 election cycle.
