Unhappy at inheriting a quiescent Middle East where Israel and the Arab world are developing economic, security, and diplomatic ties and Iran is so cash-strapped that it is finding it difficult to fund its terrorist operations, the Biden bunch is, in a flashback from the Obama administration, attempting to bolster Iran as the regional superpower while limiting assistance and cooperation with our Arab allies and with Israel. The same sort of big-brain thinking that gave us the Arab Spring, a terrorist state in Libya, ethnic cleansing and genocide in Syria, and made Iraq into a de facto Iranian satrapy is now trying to encourage the Palestinians to engage in a new intifada. //

The success of Iron Dome and the astonishing lack of casualties on both sides should be a cause for hope and celebration among sane people but such folk are in short supply on the pages of the Washington Post. For instance, there is this from the Washington Post’s aptly named “Monkey Cage” section that purports to provide “Analysis:” Israel’s Iron Dome defense system protects Israeli lives. It also perpetuates the Israel-Gaza conflict. //

Consider this for a moment. You have a defensive system that protects Israelis from Hamas terrorism and because it is damned effective, there is no political pressure on the Israeli government to conduct a punitive expedition into the terrorist stronghold of Gaza. This saves the lives of Israeli soldiers and Gazan civilians. Yet, the system is bad because it saves lives, renders Hamas terrorism ineffective, and Israel is not bludgeoned into accepting a victory by the terrorists. This is an incredible admission that the Washington Post stands foursquare with Hamas terrorists and their methods and endorses the idea that the more people killed the better. //

In 2014, the WaPo ran another op-ed, with the same message headlined _The missiles keeping Israel safe may do more long-term harm than good-. //

First off, saving lives is a good thing. I think there is one of those “commandment” thingies about it in some religious book or the other, I’m pretty sure. Saving lives from terrorist attacks is something that civilized people celebrate. Second, as someone who knew something about armed conflict, that would be Carl von Clausewitz, observed a while back, war is just a continuation of political intercourse by other means. Negotiations and rocket attacks are just different points on the conflict continuum with the same objective. The conflict ends when both sides agree that there is nothing to gain from pursuing said conflict. Third, there is no evidence, anywhere, that negotiating with a terrorist state that preaches literal genocide produces a better or more permanent outcome than just killing them. Killing terrorists without losing your own soldiers or killing innocent civilians in large numbers is a good thing. Trust me. It really is.