Within days of the Hamas slaughter of Israeli innocents, President Biden issued a veiled warning to Iran and any others who smelled a chance to pile on.
As the president put it in a White House appearance Oct. 10, “To anyone thinking of taking advantage of the situation, I have one word: Don’t.”
It wasn’t exactly a Clint Eastwood “Make my day” moment, but the point was clear enough.
The United States has Israel’s back, so the axis of evil forces better stay on the sidelines.
The point was underscored when Biden ordered an aircraft carrier strike group to the eastern Mediterranean and soon followed by sending a second strike group to prove his seriousness.
Unfortunately, a mere three weeks later, the president’s red line is in flux and in danger of being erased.
Biden has done little to counter about 20 Iranian proxy attacks on American military bases in Syria and Iraq, which left a score of our service members with brain injuries.
Equally troubling, White House support for Israel’s response in Gaza is showing cracks.
There are daily lectures from administration officials about the need for Israel to protect Arab civilians and aides let it be known that Biden warned Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu about concerns in a phone call.
Playing Israeli politics
The shifts in tone suggest the president, already unpopular as he runs for re-election and under fire from anti-Israel forces in his party and the Democrats’ media outlets, is looking for a political off-ramp.
Depending on the level of his desperation and poll numbers, he could be close to demanding a cease-fire.
To which I would make a familiar, one-word appeal: Don’t.
A surrender to critics and protestors, many of whom are unabashed antisemites, would be a historic abandonment of the lone Jewish nation and potentially set in motion three dangerous consequences.
First, it would undercut Israel’s right to eradicate a savage terrorist enemy that vows to wipe it off the map and could encourage the mad mullahs to unleash their proxies in Lebanon and elsewhere.
Second, a Biden retreat would send a signal of American weakness not only to Iran, but also to Russia and China. And that would understandably rattle such vulnerable allies as Ukraine and Taiwan.
Third, our friends in Europe, Asia and the Mideast would detect the smell of fear and recalibrate their own best interests in a world where America has buckled and forfeited its role of global leadership.
In short, a Biden flip-flop on Israel could unleash a geopolitical realignment and bring the planet closer to World War III.
Although I am distressed by the evidence of a president going wobbly in the crunch, I am not surprised.
Biden is fundamentally a weak leader whose track record is abysmal and whose health, mental and physical, is in obvious decline.
In truth, the real surprise was his initial rock-ribbed support for Israel.
Because of his Afghanistan debacle and experience as Barack Obama’s vice president, I expected Biden would imitate Obama’s contempt for Israel, a unique ally and our most important one in the region.
After all, early in his tenure Biden resumed Obama’s ridiculous courting of Iran, complete with lifting sanctions and freeing up billions of cash, all while ignoring its aggressions against Israel, Iraq and Saudi Arabia.
Moreover, in his first major speech after the Oct. 7 slaughter, Biden neglected to mention Iran and its funding of Hamas, an omission so glaring it had to be intentional.
Still, he resisted the left’s siren song of peace at any cost and his quick war-time visit to Israel, along with promises of military aid, provided a psychological boost when it was needed.
Sadly, an inflection point seems to have come last week.
America’s UN representative, Linda Thomas-Greenfield, hit all the right notes in opposing the General Assembly cease-fire resolution that put all the blame on Israel.
“Hamas has never cared about the genuine needs or concerns or safety of the people it claims to represent . . . To them Palestinian civilians are expendable,” Greenfield said in her speech.
Shameful Hamas spin
It was full of inconvenient truths that aimed to shatter the propaganda claim that Hamas is fighting for Palestinian civilians — but it fell on mostly deaf ears.
The resolution passed 120 to 14, and 45 other nations, including Britain, Germany, Canada, Australia, Japan and South Korea, refused to take a side, voting “present.”
A fair reading of the outcome is that America stands nearly alone with Israel, and that might have shaken Biden’s confidence.
Suddenly it didn’t seem so crucial to the White House that Gazans who are not members of Hamas or protected by its gangster leaders are treated no better than the ubiquitous donkeys who pull heavy carts on the enclave’s dusty streets.
Or that the terrorists hide their weapons, rockets and munitions under schools, apartment buildings and mosques.
Or that when Israel called for Gazans in the north to evacuate and move south, Hamas ordered them not to go, realizing they would lose their human shields — and their ace in the hole for claiming world sympathy.
This is who they are and they would happily repeat their savage attack on Israeli civilians if given another chance.
That’s a risk Israel cannot and will not take, so even if Biden joins the rabble and turns full critic, Netanyahu would almost certainly refuse to halt the invasion.
Meanwhile, another worrisome sign is that Biden has been missing in action in combatting the explosion of antisemitism at home and the increasing threats of violence aimed at Jewish students on many college campuses.
Instead, in what looks like a bid to curry favor with the far left and Arab voters, he and his press secretary have more often warned against Islamophobia, repeatedly citing a tragic murder of a Muslim child near Chicago by a landlord.
The stabbing death of 6-year-old Wadea Al-Fayoume was indeed horrific, and the 71-year-old landlord, Joseph Czuba, was promptly indicted on numerous charges, including first-degree murder and committing hate crimes.
But the fact remains that the public support for Hamas and genocide of Jews is unlike anything America has ever seen.
Although the nation’s 5.3 million Jews make up just 2.2% of the population, more than half of all religion-based hate crimes were aimed at Jews in 2022, according to FBI reports.
Although the bulk of open displays of Jew-hatred by demonstrators and keyboard antisemites that have appeared since Oct. 7 are not crimes, some are and involve threats and intimidation.
All of them, legal or not, reflect a disgusting trend that cannot be ignored or explained away. This is sick stuff and the brazenness is frightening.
Thankfully, Mayor Adams and Gov. Hochul are actively denouncing the development, but Biden is way behind the curve.
Count that as another sign he is shrinking from the fight just when a steadfast president is needed most.
This story originally appeared on NYPost
