VA senator’s lukewarm support is coupled with misplaced criticism and a poor grasp of reality Paul Driessen
Several
friends and I recently wrote to Virginia Senators Tim Kaine and Mark
Warner, urging them to support Israel’s war against Hamas terrorists. We
appreciated their detailed responses but were appalled by their
minimal, judgmental support for Israel, poor grasp of reality and focus
on Palestinian suffering.
Senator Warner
is Chairman of the Intelligence Committee and “monitors the situation
closely.” Senator Kaine serves on the Armed Services and Foreign Affairs
Committees. Both should understand the situation better than their very
similar comments suggest, especially Sen. Kaines’s much longer letter.
*
Both acknowledged that Gaza-based Hamas terrorists inflicted “horrific”
attacks on Israel last October 7. Senator Warner noted that Hamas’s
goal is “the complete annihilation of Israel.” Both mentioned the 240
hostages but said nothing about Hamas kidnapping babies, children, women
and sick elderly people, starving, sexually abusing or murdering many
of them, and making absurd demands for their release.
Neither
mentioned Hamas’s decades of suicide bombings, rocket attacks and other
murders – nor the scope of the barbaric October 7 atrocities: 1,200
butchered, 5,400 maimed, babies beheaded, children and adults burned
alive, limbs chopped off so that children and parents would bleed to
death in agony, women sexually mutilated before being murdered, and much more. Every act was a brutal pre-planned war crime that the terrorists proudly recorded on GoPros and cell phones.
Mr. Kaine co-sponsored Senator Jeanne Shaheen’s resolution “condemning
the use of sexual violence and rape as a weapon of war.”
We
applaud this. But the resolution sanitizes what happened on October 7.
It wasn’t “just” rape. It was rampant, systematic, strongly encouraged
gang-rape of hundreds of women and pre-teens. These butchers cut some
victims’ breasts off and murdered some mid-rape. Why gloss that over?
The senators briefly acknowledged that Israel has “the right to defend
itself” – but then criticized the Israel Defense Forces at length,
saying the IDF has “an obligation” to “follow the laws of conflict,
minimize harm to civilians,” restrict the use of airstrikes that have
“killed thousands,” and stop blocking food, water, fuel and electricity
aid, thereby triggering a “tragic humanitarian crisis.”
The Israel Defense Forces do more to minimize civilian casualties
than any other army. They use leaflets, phone calls, texts and
loudspeakers to warn people days and hours ahead of attacks, so they can
get out of harm’s way – even though that gives Hamas advance warning
and puts IDF soldiers at much greater risk.
But
Gaza is urban warfare at its worst. Hamas has 370 miles of military
tunnels directly beneath homes, hospitals, schools, mosques, apartment
buildings and UNRWA offices,
with thousands of access shafts in the same buildings. Its terrorists
stash arms and weapons in all these places, hide among, under and behind
women and children, and mostly wear civilian clothing. They launch
rockets and ambushes from civilian locations, then disappear into the
tunnels. More war crimes.
Hamas built its
tunnels and weapons stocks by diverting and stealing decades of aid
money, concrete and supplies. It spent little on water or electric
infrastructure, leaving Gaza heavily reliant on what Israel provides. Even amid the current “humanitarian crisis,” Hamas hoards food and fuel and tells Gazans they must meet Hamas needs first. It hides kidnapped Israelis in apartments and hospitals. Also war crimes.
Hamas
casualty figures deliberately mix terrorists and civilians; they count
as “children” 15–18-year-old males who often work with Hamas. They blame
their own mortar and rocket accidents on Israel and wildly inflate the death tolls. They want civilian deaths
– for propaganda campaigns that politicians and news media gullibly
parrot. They often prevent families from leaving battle zones and even
shoot those who try to leave. The IDF has tried to enforce escape
corridors to prevent this. Hamas also murders people who try to get
water and food aid – and then counts them among the war dead.
Airstrikes
are essential and civilian casualties are inevitable under these
circumstances. But the civilian tolls in Gaza are far below the hundreds
of thousands to millions in Syria, Iraq, Yemen and other conflicts; far below what US, UN and allied forces
have inflicted in recent wars. It is prejudicial and hypocritical for
the senators, United Nations and multiple “humanitarian organizations”
to condemn Israel so bitterly and so often – while saying little or
nothing about the far worse slaughters.
Hamas could end the deaths by surrendering and repudiating its goal of eradicating Israel and Israelis.
The senators claim violence and economic instability have increased in
the West Bank since October 7, as “extremist” Israelis attack and try to
forcibly displace the area’s Palestinians.
The
West Bank is home to Hezbollah, Hamas’s kindred ally, which continues
to launch rockets, missiles and anti-tank weapons at Israeli homes,
farmers and cars, killing and wounding civilians. Israeli residents
are understandably angry, and a few have taken the law into their own
hands – and are being prosecuted for it. Meanwhile, Palestinians who
murder Israelis get lifetime pay-for-slay payments as rewards.
Senator Warner says Hamas terrorists “do not represent the interests of innocent Palestinians” or the views of US Muslims.
Gaza Palestinians voted Hamas into power in 2007 and still support the terrorist group.
Many civilians have assisted in rocket and other terror attacks.
Hundreds participated in the October 7 murders and looting and helped
kidnap and hide hostages. Many have gladly served as human shields and
martyrs. 57% of Gazans and 82% of West Bank Palestinians say Hamas was
right to massacre Israelis October 7.
Thousands of American Muslims (and non-Muslims) have joined intimidating and sometimes violent
protests in US streets and schools, condemning only Israel and
supporting Hamas, the eradication of Jews from the [Jordan] River to the
[Mediterranean] Sea, and even the October 7 barbarism.
Senator Kaine continues to seek “long-term solutions that allow
Palestinians and Israelis to live alongside each other in peace.” (The
Biden Administration wants to compel a “two-state solution.”)
October
7 was the worst, most barbarous butchery in eight decades. Palestinians
who were welcomed into these now-devastated communities to work and
support a “new Gaza” – even to have dinner with Israeli families –
carefully mapped their homes and communities, where each family lived,
where their safe rooms were, where weapons were stored. Some of them
even joined in the massacres and looting.
Just as ominous, Hamas leaders say October 7 was a “dress rehearsal”
for worse massacres to come, until Israel is destroyed from the River
to the Sea. Hamas wants no peace, no long-term or two-state solution. It
wants Israel gone – and rewrites history and reality to serve its goals..
On
October 7 Hamas went too far: back to Holocaust savagery. Israel cannot
leave Hamas as a barbaric military threat, and Israelis no longer trust
Palestinians or a “two-state” international “peace process.”
Senators
Kaine and Warner, and their staffs and congressional colleagues, cannot
remain so ill-informed on these crucial Israel and Middle East issues.
They should not take Jewish voters for granted, while seeming to court
Muslim and woke, Israel-hating young voters.
Regarding the war, what would they do, if their
children were in the IDF or Israeli towns? We and the Israeli
leadership would welcome their geo-political, strategic and tactical
insights.
Paul
Driessen has been to Israel multiple times and is the author of many
articles on energy, environmental, human rights and Israel issues.
