NewsNation’s Leland Vittert provides his expert analysis and perspective on the Israel-Hamas war in the Nov. 9 edition of his War Notes column.
(NewsNation) — Israel’s strategy is very clear: destroy Hamas and get its hostages back.
Hamas’ strategy is clear: destroy Israel, and as we laid out in last night’s show, keep fighting until international pressure forces the Israelis to stop so Hamas can keep the hostages.
Biden’s strategy is a series of competing ideas.
The administration wants to support Israel and maintain the domestic political support of people who want to destroy Israel.
To that end, the Biden administration publicly calls for Israel to follow international law and for there to be humanitarian pauses but not so much that it angers the half of the Democratic Party that supports Israel.
It wants to appear strong regarding the Middle East and confronting Iran but doesn’t want to admit the failure of the strategy with Iran, including that it gave Iran $6 billion.
It wants to tie aid to Israel and Ukraine together to corner Republicans but can’t figure out how to veto a bill that would support Israel alone.
It wants to deter an Iranian-backed attack that kills American troops but doesn’t want to admit that America must re-engage in the Middle East two years after the distasteful Afghanistan withdrawal.
It wants to take credit for Biden’s “steady hand” on foreign policy but not focus attention on his age as commander-in-chief during a crisis.
Yesterday, we said lack of moral clarity leads to strategic paralysis … and strategic paralysis leads to loss of control.
The Biden administration got VERY close to losing control.
Reuters reports an Iranian drone got through U.S. air defenses and hit the second floor of U.S. barracks in Iraq but didn’t explode. If not for bad manufacturing, Biden would have lost total control and would have had to answer for the deaths of dozens, if not hundreds, of American servicemen.
We predict: Without far bigger retaliatory strikes than the two so far, Iran’s proxies will continue attacks on Americans. So far, there have been over 40. Next time, we might not be so lucky.
Democratic Disconnect
Today, the White House played up Israel’s agreement to “humanitarian corridors” that the Israelis have been doing for days on their own.
The White House got crushed from the left for not doing enough. Democratic Congresswoman Cori Bush said, “How dare we treat humans in that way that we decide four hours is enough time.”
Congressional staffers, typically more idealistic than even their bosses, held a “ceasefire now” press conference of their own wearing masks and sunglasses.
Why are people so committed to a cause they are ashamed to show their faces for?
Remember, you are paying their salaries.
Watch: Hillary Clinton explained why much of the Democratic Party’s calls for cease-fire and pauses are thinly veiled pro-Hamas propaganda.
More on this tomorrow: As we approach another weekend of planned marches, at what point do we acknowledge that going to a march where people chant “from the river to the sea” defines you as pro-Hamas whether you want to be or not? Douglas Murray and Piers Morgan explain in this video.
But Representative Rashida Tlaib continues to maintain that “from the river to the sea” is a peaceful slogan and that she is the real victim.
Speaking of marches, there are growing questions as to why Loay Alnaji remains free. He is a professor and pro-Hamas protester implicated in the death of 69-year-old Jewish man Paul Kessler. If there are any questions about whether the attack was a hate crime, Alnaji’s Instagram should clear it up.
Ministry of Truth
The Israeli Public Diplomacy Directorate for the Prime Minister all but threatened to kill freelance journalists who were embedded and/or had knowledge of or helped with the Oct. 7 attacks. The report focuses on freelancers for Reuters, AP, The New York Times and CNN.
To be fair: It seems unlikely they got any advance warning of the attacks but very likely got calls right when things kicked off.
I spent a lot of time with not good people during my time in the Middle East. There are a lot of pictures of me with not good people. That said … none of them are kissing me, unlike in this photo.
The issue here is that CNN, AP and The New York Times employ people who are essentially Hamas cutouts.
Ground Truth
In Gaza, a reporter or international freelancer does, says, reports and shows what Hamas tells them to or they fly off a building. Why CNN, AP, BBC, Reuters and The New York Times continue to treat their Gazan freelancers as “independent journalists” is the much bigger issue.
The Israelis responded to a New York Times statement about one of its freelancers.
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.
