After September 11, 2001, federal officials began concerted efforts to crack down on ostensible charities that were in fact schemes to raise funds for Hamas, al-Qaeda, and other terrorist groups. The most notable was the Holy Land Foundation, which had supplied Hamas with over $12 million. But during the eight years Barack Obama was in office, action was taken against only one such organization. Jonathan Schanzer writes:

[I]t is hard to believe that [no more than] one charity has run afoul of our laws. A more likely explanation is that President Obama’s “Countering Violent Extremism” initiative, despite claims of community successes, sidelined law enforcement by working to co-opt rather than confront bad actors. This approach called upon nonprofits to renounce extremism and financing terrorism, even when officials strongly suspected them of engaging in that activity. . . .

Meanwhile, the Treasury Department’s domestic investigations withered, primarily due to mounting legal challenges over the constitutionality of these actions. Indeed, the risk of drawn-out litigation over every designation appeared to outweigh the rewards. . . .

Treasury does continue aggressively to sanction entities abroad, and that helps curb terrorism finance worldwide. But it’s hard to understand how our international partners will take us seriously if this glaring gap remains. Indeed, why should they feel compelled to crack down on their terrorist finance problems if we don’t address our own? . . . [Furthermore], it would be surprising if terrorist groups have not exploited this window of opportunity. It’s time to put our national-security professionals back to work on this crucial portfolio.

Analyzing the recent direct Iranian attack on Israel, and Israel’s security situation more generally, Michael Oren looks to the 2015 agreement to restrain Iran’s nuclear program. That, and President Biden’s efforts to resurrect the deal after Donald Trump left it, are in his view the source of the current crisis:

Of the original motivations for the deal—blocking Iran’s path to the bomb and transforming Iran into a peaceful nation—neither remained. All Biden was left with was the ability to kick the can down the road and to uphold Barack Obama’s singular foreign-policy achievement.

In order to achieve that result, the administration has repeatedly refused to punish Iran for its malign actions:

Historians will survey this inexplicable record and wonder how the United States not only allowed Iran repeatedly to assault its citizens, soldiers, and allies but consistently rewarded it for doing so. They may well conclude that in a desperate effort to avoid getting dragged into a regional Middle Eastern war, the U.S. might well have precipitated one.

While America’s friends in the Middle East, especially Israel, have every reason to feel grateful for the vital assistance they received in intercepting Iran’s missile and drone onslaught, they might also ask what the U.S. can now do differently to deter Iran from further aggression. . . . Tehran will see this weekend’s direct attack on Israel as a victory—their own—for their ability to continue threatening Israel and destabilizing the Middle East with impunity.

Israel, of course, must respond differently. Our target cannot simply be the Iranian proxies that surround our country and that have waged war on us since October 7, but, as the Saudis call it, “the head of the snake.”