Photo Credit: Oren Ben Hakoon/Flash90
Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich, July 22, 2024.
The last thing Kamala Harris needs between now and the Democratic convention in Chicago on August 19-22 is an eruption of war between Israel and the Islamist terrorists in the Gaza Strip or Lebanon. And then, after she and Tim Walz get the nomination, they’d still be afraid of a blowout between Israel and the Iranian “ring of fire,” and all of it because of Michigan.
NSC Coordinator for Strategic Communications John Kirby at a press briefing, October 3, 2023. / Official White House Photo by Oliver Contreras
I mention this because the White House has launched an all-out attack on one of Netanyahu’s cabinet ministers, marking him as a threat to peace and tranquility on the planet. National Security Communications Advisor John Kirby on Saturday announced:
“We are already in preparatory discussions for the senior meeting that will take place on Thursday in Doha or Cairo. The Prime Minister of Israel immediately welcomed this initiative and confirmed that his team will be there and that they’ll be prepared to finalize the details for implementing the deal. Qatar and Egypt are working on the Hamas side to bring them to the table as well. …
“We’ve seen some statements from some quarters in Israel, over recent days, attacking the deal. I just want to underscore how wrong this is, not only in substance, but also jeopardizing the lives of the hostages and running counter to Israel’s own national security interests.
“Some critics, like Mr. Smotrich, for example, have claimed that the hostage deal is a surrender to Hamas or that hostages should not be exchanged for prisoners. Mr. Smotrich essentially suggests that the war ought to go on indefinitely, without pause, and with the lives of the hostages of no real concern at all. His arguments are dead wrong. They’re misleading the Israeli public. And I want to take just a moment, if I could, to address some of those claims.”
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MICHIGAN
Hail to the chief: Kamala Harris salutes US Marines as she disembarks Marine Two, June 25, 2021. / Official White House Photo by Lawrence Jackson
In the 2020 election, Joe Biden carried Michigan with 50.6% of the vote to Donald Trump’s 47.8%. In the last 10 presidential elections, the Democratic candidate has won the state 7 times, while the Republican has won it 3 times. Michigan is a swing state par excellence. It sends 16 delegates to the Electoral College. There’s no Democratic victory on November 5 without Michigan.
Before her appearance last week in front of a crowd of pro-Hamas Democrats outside Detroit, Michigan, Harris met with the founders of the Uncommitted National Movement that mobilized more than 100,000 people to withhold their votes from Biden in the Michigan primary over his support for Israel in Gaza. At the brief meeting, they asked Harris for a meeting to discuss an arms embargo on Israel (Kamala Harris Willing to Discuss Weapons Embargo on Israel). The Harris campaign spokesman later said that “in this brief engagement,” the presumed Democratic nominee for president “reaffirmed that her campaign will continue to engage with those communities.”
Harris’s national security adviser Phil Gordon tweeted in response to the embargo talk last Thursday: “The VP has been clear: she will always ensure Israel is able to defend itself against Iran and Iran-backed terrorist groups. She does not support an arms embargo on Israel. She will continue to work to protect civilians in Gaza and to uphold international humanitarian law.”
SMOTRICH
Finance Minister and Minister in the Defense Ministry Bezalel Smotrich had this to say Saturday night:
“I respect the position of the US and thank it for its support for Israel in the face of regional threats, but I expect it to respect Israeli democracy and the position of the citizens of Israel and its elected officials about decisions that will affect the security of the country.
“Just as the US would reject international pressure to reach a surrender agreement with Al Qaeda and Bin Laden, so Israel will not submit to any external pressure that would harm Israel’s security.
“The surrender to Sinwar agreement, which leaves most of the hostages to die, frees many murderers, returns the terrorists to the north of the Gaza Strip, abandons the border, and allows Hamas to smuggle weapons and restore its strength to be able to return and attack Israel as an arm of Iran, is bad for Israel and endangers its security, and we will oppose it with all our might. No criticism and no attack will distract me from the goal.”
On this matter, Smotrich is far from being an extremist “far-right” politician. In poll after poll, Israelis reveal their deep suspicion of a badly concocted hostage deal, the deal promoted by the same security establishment that insisted Hamas was deterred on October 6, and that peace with the Gazans required the expulsion of some 8,000 Jews.
NOVEMBER 5
The notion that Michigan Muslims can cost the Democrats the presidential race is not serious. For one thing, Michigan has only the fifth-largest Muslim population in the US, following four blue states: Illinois, New York, New Jersey, and Maryland. Even in terms of the percentage of Muslims in the state’s population, Michigan, with 2.4% is far behind Illinois with 3.7%, NY with 3.59%, NJ with 3.46%, and Maryland with 3.06%. What frightens the Harris campaign is the sheer force of the Uncommitted campaign. They may not be able to persuade many Muslims to vote against Harris, but they could get many American Muslims to stay home on November 5 – and that would be detrimental to the Democrats.
Add to that a new war in Gaza or Lebanon, with the mass deaths of civilians being used as human shields by the terrorists, and Kamala Harris would have to go on the record for or against Israel. The White House’s statement following the IDF attack on a Hamas headquarters that masqueraded as a school and a mosque in Gaza on Saturday acknowledged that “Hamas has been using schools as locations to gather and operate out of,” adding: “But we have also said repeatedly and consistently that Israel must take measures to minimize civilian harm.”
The fact is the IDF was doing just that, using three targeted bombs that focused on the specific floor where at least 19 Hamas terrorists were hiding, surrounded by civilians. The IDF said the al-Taba’een school “served as an active Hamas and Islamic Jihad military facility.” The IDF published the pictures of the 19 Hamas terrorists who were surgically eliminated.
Harris paid no attention to Israel’s efforts to minimize civilian deaths. Harris said “far too many” civilians had been killed “yet again.” In a campaign stop in Phoenix, Arizona, Harris said Israel had a right to “go after Hamas” but also has “an important responsibility” to avoid civilian casualties.
IDF spokesman Rear Adm Daniel Hagari said “various intelligence indications” suggest a “high probability” that Ashraf Juda, Commander of Islamic Jihad’s Central Camps Brigade, was in al-Taba’een school when it was attacked.
So far, Kamala Harris is walking a tightly balanced rope as adeptly as she can with those two messages: “Israel can defend itself,” and “Kill fewer Arabs.” This thing could lose its balance very quickly.
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