Israel war: Peace Requires Hamas’ Elimination
Hamas’ rejection of a “proposal for a permanent ceasefire in Gaza” is “a ringing reminder” that the conflict with Hamas can’t end until it’s been “destroyed,” as the group “would rather Palestinians suffer death and destruction than live prosperously next to a prosperous Israel,” rails the Washington Examiner’s editorial board.
Gaza City Mayor Yahya Sarraj “made an impassioned plea” for an immediate, permanent ceasefire, “recalling the construction of a cultural center in Gaza City in the 1980s.” Yet “who was in control of Gaza City” when it was built? “Israel, not Hamas.”
In fact, “no government wants Palestinians to live peaceful, productive lives in Gaza more than the Israeli government”; Hamas “wants only death to Israel and misery for Palestinians” until it gets it.
From the right: Biden’s War on Manufacturing
“The Biden administration is engaged in an unprecedented effort to boost American manufacturing,” yet at the same time, it’s “layering more and more requirements on factories and utilities,” hamstringing the industry, notes Judge Glock at National Review.
“The latest example”: a new regulation on small electric motors, supposedly to make them more energy efficient.
Hmm: “If the energy savings are so great, why don’t consumers and manufacturers adopt them on their own?”
Sure, “one regulation” like that won’t “stymie manufacturing,” despite its high costs. “But it adds to the ever-increasing erosion of America’s manufacturing base.”
“The laptop class keeps finding new ways to impose costs on those trying to make things. And then they are mystified when people refuse to build in America.”
Foreign desk: Gaza’s Just the Beginning
“The Middle East is headed toward a major war, for which the U.S. needs a strategy well beyond Gaza,” warns Seth Cropsey at The Wall Street Journal.
The Biden administration needs to realize “Oct. 7 was the first step in a new phase of Iran’s campaign against Israel and America.”
“Tehran’s goal since 1979 has been to export the Islamic revolution throughout the Middle East.”
The Iranian-created “Axis of Resistance” members are “united in their hatred of Israel and the U.S.”
So Washington needs a strategy that targets Iran and positions “the U.S. as the only viable partner for the Gulf Arabs.”
It’s in America’s strategic interests to “move the Arab world toward Washington, not leave it on the sidelines.”
Economist: A ’24 Recession’s Still Possible
Neither the Federal Reserve nor its chairman Jerome Powell is mentioning “the financial system risks to the economic recovery,” frets Desmond Lachman at The National Interest, despite “serious troubles” that “could lead to a credit crunch.”
Recall the “failure of Silicon Valley Bank and First Republic Bank” this year. And that “commercial property owners must roll over around $500 billion in maturing loans,” even as vacancy rates sit at record levels.
“It is often said that generals fight the last war. Something similar can perhaps be said of Jerome Powell’s Federal Reserve.”
As “a regional banking crisis is brewing that could precipitate a meaningful recession, the Fed continues to battle inflation even though it is already close to reaching its inflation target.”
Urban beat: Safe-Injection Sites Do Fuel Crime
America has only two government-sanctioned “safe-injection sites” (both in New York City), so a new study in the Journal of the American Medical Association on their impact on surrounding areas has gotten “much attention,” observes Howard Husock at City Journal.
Unfortunately, the report’s “conclusion minimizes the importance of an increase in aggravated assaults” near the sites.
Indeed, its “own findings include a statistically significant increase in aggravated assaults.”
No surprise: People who use the facilities might “acquire” cash for their drugs by “assaulting people in the neighborhood” and stealing their money.
Yet “this is more than a dispute about statistics”: It’s “crucial” for cities to understand the impact of such sites on neighborhood “quality of life” before deciding whether to “countenance” the “hard drug use” they facilitate.
Compiled by The Post Editorial Board
This story originally appeared on NYPost
