With Hezbollah burning thousands of acres of Israeli land in the north and reports of a hostage/cease-fire deal filled with half-truths and misinformation, a lot is taking place right now in the region. But we begin this week with the news that Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu has accepted an invitation to address a joint session of the U.S. Congress.

Mr. Netanyahu Goes to Washington

After much wrangling and patently unnecessary political games (looking at you Majority Leader Schumer), Congress has finally invited Netanyahu to deliver an address to a joint session of Congress. The Prime Minister has of course accepted the invitation and the details are being worked out.

It should be noted that this is not the first time Prime Minister Netanyahu will deliver remarks before Congress. In fact it will be his fourth, the most of any foreign leader in American history. Moreover, one might be forgiven for speculating that at its core, his point will be the same today as it was during his last remarks: please stop appeasing the enemies of the West.

In March of 2015, Bibi stood before the U.S. Congress and implored our leaders to understand the situation, “Iran's goons in Gaza, its lackeys in Lebanon, its revolutionary guards on the Golan Heights are clutching Israel with three tentacles of terror.”

“We must all stand together to stop Iran's march of conquest, subjugation and terror,” he went on to declare.

Are his words any less true today than when they were first uttered? Of course not. Bibi begged the United States not to appease Iran, and President Obama (along with allies in Congress) ignored the Israeli Prime Minister.

Burning Israel

On Sunday, a Hezbollah rocket set fire to an open area in northern Israel. Numerous firefighters, utilizing 15 trucks and a half-dozen aircraft were able to get the blaze under control, but not before it had burned nearly 2,500 acres.

On the heels of this news, we learned that Iran’s acting Foreign Minister (you may recall, his predecessor recently died in a helicopter crash along with Iran’s President) is in Lebanon organizing terrorist activity against Israel. And he’s not hiding it, “…resistance is the basis for stability in the region,” he said.

Translation: I’m here to wage war against Israel.

After meeting with his counterpart in Beirut, the Iranian Foreign Minister said, “We agreed that all countries in the region, especially the Islamic countries, should adopt a joint movement in order to counter Israeli aggression and protect the Palestinian people, especially in Rafah.”

Translation: I’m here to invite all regional antisemites to join in waging war against Israel.

Malice or Incompetence

All of this has been taking place as our primary focus remains, of course, on the hostages being held in Rafah. In recent days, pieces of news have been coming out concerning a potential three-phase hostage for cease-fire deal between Israel and Hamas.

Trouble is, while President Biden’s remarks and subsequent social media graphics indicate that the terms are clear, they seem anything but. And the Israelis have indicated that what Biden is discussing is not completely what they’ve agreed to. Moreover, certain elements of the three-phased agreement will not be released until we reach each of the relevant phases.

We’ve seen this before: where the proposal to which everyone knows Israel has agreed is not identical to that which is being pushed publicly – even though the White House is pretending like the two proposals are the same.

Confused? Don’t worry, that’s likely by design.

We had a bit of disagreement in the office over this. You see, not only do we see transparently foolish diplomatic games being played but this was all announced during the Jewish Sabbath. As you likely know, many members of the Jewish faith endeavor to keep the Sabbath holy by not working, traveling or even speaking on the phone.

Some might argue these events, and the many of the same that preceded them, result from simple incompetence. They’re doing their best over there at Team Biden, but they don’t know that save security and emergencies, Jerusalem shuts down from sunset on Friday until sunset the next day.

Others in our office give the Biden administration more credit. The games being played and the timing of it all, coupled with pressure on Israel concerning the Rafah operation, indicate the President is putting the screws to Israel, they argue.

This disagreement was settled by pointing out that we were focusing on the wrong problem. We should’ve been asking: How has the U.S.-Israel relationship gotten to the point where we must speculate on whether or not our government is being driven by malice or incompetence?

Israel and the U.S. are supposed to be the closest of allies, and yet increasingly it seems that Jerusalem must trust but verify everything coming from the Biden administration. This is no way for an alliance to thrive; this is no way to treat a friend at war.

Whether or not we’re witnessing malice or incompetence the end result has been the same. Since 10/7, President Biden’s approach to the Middle East has been as muddled and misguided as Sen. Fetterman’s has been clear and righteous. 

A portion of Proverbs 11:14 states, “in the multitude of counselors there is safety.”

Perhaps some of President Biden’s counselors are unwise, perhaps some hate Israel. Either way, the end is the same: the Obama-Biden approach to the Middle East isn’t working. And if he wishes to fix it, the President needs to diversify the thought among his counselors.

Sincerely,

The CUFI Action Fund