NewsNation Chief Washington Anchor and On Balance host Leland Vittert was a foreign correspondent for four years in Jerusalem. He gives you an early look at tonight’s 7 p.m. ET show.

The warning: 

• Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin warned Israel risks strategic defeat if not enough is done to protect Gaza civilians, saying, “In this kind of a fight, the center of gravity is the civilian population. And if you drive them into the arms of the enemy, you replace a tactical victory with a strategic defeat.”

The facts:

• 75 percent of the civilian population in Gaza already supports Hamas and the Oct. 7 murdering and raping of Israeli civilians.
  • The naivety is stunning. Does Austin believe the other 25 percent will be swayed by how many leaflets Israel drops? Of course not.
  • Will the world’s opinion change? Nope.
    • Remember: Hamas wrongly accused Israel of bombing a hospital that the Islamic Jihad bombed, and the international media took Hamas’ side. No amount of being nice will ever change the hearts and minds of Palestinians. 

Just recently: A Sky News anchor cut off an IDF spokesman for dispelling the “Gazans have no power” talking point. 

• To be fair, if the IDF didn’t care about civilian casualties, the war would have been over on Oct. 10.
  • Facts matter: The IDF does far more to warn civilians and limit casualties than any military in history.

Zoom out: It’s not working!

Austin’s comments lay bare the fallacy of the Biden administration’s foreign policy both about Israel and about Iran. 

• Blinken, Austin, Sullivan, Nuland and the rest of the Biden administration foreign policy braintrust believe that treating Iran by the golden rule will bring it into line. Or they believe that at least they can deal with Iran like they do Uruguay. They can’t. 
• This weekend:
  • Iran-backed rebels in Yemen fired on three commercial vessels and an American destroyer.
  • An Iran-backed militia in Iraq tried to launch another more significant attack on American bases. 
• So far, Iran has made 75 unanswered attacks on Americans since Oct. 7. 
• We predict: Sadly, it’s only a matter of time before Iran kills an American service member. This is preventable. 

On Nov. 9, Biden admitted American policy wasn’t working as he was walking to Marine One. 

• When asked whether the retaliatory strikes were working, he said, “Yes.  I mean, they’re — they’re working in the sense that we’re hitting the targets they’re seeking.”

Bottom line: Iran views restraint as weakness — if America acts like Israel, then Iran would stop attacking us. 

The News Gets Worse

America is running out of weapons. 

• And it’s not just conventional weapons. Thanks to Pentagon complacency, we are losing the next war before it starts.
• Axios reports, “Behind the Curtain: U.S. not ready for era of robotic, AI world wars.” 
• Can we teach old generals new tricks before China beats us?
• Will “Roadrunner” save us? Here’s a cool video, but who knows if it works. 

Thought bubble 💭 : The Defense Production Act could help fix this, but the administration won’t invoke it. They will, however, invoke it for climate-saving heat pumps. Why is that? 

“Beyond F***** Up” 

Female world “leaders” have justified Hamas’ rape and torture of women. 

• Progressive Caucus chair Pramila Jayapal all but defended Hamas’ raping of Israeli women, saying that “we have to be balanced” in our condemnation.
  • Fox News Democratic contributor Jessica Tarlov said, “This is beyond f***** up. Every single one of these Democratic primaries of the ‘progressives’ is going to be justified.” 
  • Nancy Pelosi’s daughter said not to “both sides” this. 
  • Morning Joe explains it best: “It always has to be, ‘Yeah, but Israel.’” 

Honest question: Hamas promises to destroy Israeli, so short of Israel allowing Hamas to overrun the Jewish state, what Israeli actions would the “pro-Palestinian” types be okay with?

To be Fair: Progressives Are Only Playing to Their People 

Students at Columbia University’s School of Social Work declare the Oct. 7 attacks a “counteroffensive.” 

On the streets of Philadelphia, outside a Jewish- and Israeli-owned restaurant, people chanted, “Goldie, Goldie, you can’t hide. We charge you with genocide.” 

Pro-Hamas groups terrorize Philadelphia Jews and businesses, both in the city and on the campus of the University of Pennsylvania, where students demanded an “intifada revolution,” which would be the killing of Jews worldwide. 

They also projected demands to kill Jews on campus buildings. 

The governor of Pennsylvania, Josh Shapiro, who is Jewish, slammed the crowd yet still refused to deploy state police, while the Philadelphia mayor was silent. 

• The same can be said for New York law enforcement.
• Nothing says “Free Palestine” like knocking over the Alo store.

Tomorrow, college presidents, including those from Harvard and the University of Pennsylvania, testify before Congress.

• The Departments of Education and Justice could get the attention of colleges and universities quickly if they had meaningful investigations that could cut off their federal funding. For obvious reasons, that appears unlikely.

Tune into “On Balance with Leland Vittert” weeknights at 7/6C on NewsNation. Find your channel here.

The views expressed in this article are those of the author and not necessarily of NewsNation.