Ever wonder why so many in the foreign policy establishment push for de-escalation, a cease fire, or a two-state solution? Why are so many people who are responsible for the actions and decisions made by their nation and ours so blind to the facts that every person who davens next to you or sits around your table sees so clearly? Could it be that they all simply hate Israel and the Jewish people and want to see them both destroyed? That is certainly true with a core percentage of them, but it doesn’t account for all of them.
Like an aging actor with an empty shelf, these foreign policy intelligentsia care about one thing only: winning the prize. There are no Nobel Prizes for winning wars, only for “making peace.” There are no pictures in the history books when you tell your ally to decimate their enemy; but every child has seen the picture of Jimmy Carter standing between Menachem Begin and Anwar Saddat, or Bill Clinton standing between Yitzchak Rabin and Yasser Arafat. It doesn’t matter if the peace is lasting, or if the agreement is worth the paper it was printed on. The third-party negotiators got their legacy shot, got their resume padded, and got their prize to take home.
This explains much of the statements that were given when Israel performed the miracle of destroying Hezbollah, a terrorist organization that has been attacking the West, killing hundreds of Americans and pointing tens of thousands of rockets, all in a matter of days. The death of Hassan Nasrallah is a joyous event in the world, like the death of Osama Bin Laden. Nasrallah, as leader of Hezbollah since 1992, is associated with numerous terrorist activities. These include the 1994 AMIA bombing in Argentina, the 2006 kidnapping of Israeli soldiers that sparked the Lebanon-Israel war, and the 2012 Burgas bus bombing in Bulgaria. Hezbollah, under Nasrallah, has also been involved in rocket attacks on Israeli civilians, support for the Assad regime in Syria, and building a global network for terrorism and illicit activities.
Lamenting Nasrallah’s death is the territory of the worst of the worst. “Journalist” Marwa Osman, who openly celebrated on October 7, went viral when she was told of Nasrallah’s death, because she began weeping and could not continue the interview she was on. White supremacist Jackson Hinkle said, “The martyrdom of Hezbollah’s Hassan Nasrallah has left me heartbroken.” Former UK Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn called, as always, for a “full arms embargo,” as did Bernie Sanders. They do not care about prizes; these are the people who want to see Israel destroyed.
Also not caring about prizes is the other side of the aisle, the pro-Israel side. Former Secretary of State Mike Pompeo knows he’s never winning any prizes. Being the Secretary of State under Donald Trump, being a part of the historic Abraham Accords, that doesn’t win the Nobel Peace Prize. With nothing to win, and with a clear moral compass, Mike Pompeo said what everyone should be saying: “Instead of talking about a ceasefire...we should be saying plain and clear ‘Finish the job.’”
Then there’s the media, who always have glowing terms to use for terrorists. Every evil must be raised and every force of good must be dropped so all parties can live in the media’s fictional universe of moral equivalency. The AP called Nasrallah “Charismatic and Shrewd.” The Guardian said he was a “qualified Islamic scholar, effective public speaker, and competent organizer.” The Washington Post said that “Mr. Nasrallah was seen as a father figure, a moral compass, and a political guide.” The New York Times called him a “revered Shiite Muslim cleric.” (For reference, when a former Republican Senator passed away in July, the AP headline was: “Former US Sen. Jim Inhofe, defense hawk, who called human-caused climate change a ‘hoax,’ dies at 89.”)
The media coverage matters, because the people who want the prizes want the glowing media coverage, as well. No one wants The New York Times to write about them as they would about a Republican who tells Israel to “finish the job.” So, when Joe Biden puts out a statement on the death of Nasrallah, he follows three good paragraphs outlining Hezbollah’s atrocities with: “Ultimately, our aim is to de-escalate the ongoing conflicts in both Gaza and Lebanon through diplomatic means.” He’s been saying that since October 7. If Biden and Kamala Harris haven’t been repeating this tired and stale talking point of “diplomatic means” and simply told Israel to “finish the job,” this war would have been over months ago. But if Biden and Harris were strong enough to say such a thing, this war would have never begun.
It’s time for our leadership to stop worrying about prizes and legacy and start doing what’s right. All the facts on the ground prove that Israel is morally correct in taking the actions that they have taken, and militarily succeeding in every way imaginable. The best way to peace is to destroy the enemy that wants to destroy you, not by signing a document that they will laugh over while plotting your eventual demise.
Moshe Hill is a political analyst and columnist. His work can be found at www.aHillwithaView.com and on X at @HillWithView.
