On Tuesday, a group of Democrats in the House of Representatives managed to get a provision for restocking Israel’s Iron Dome missile-defense system removed from a much larger spending bill. Subsequently, other Democrats introduced a separate bill to provide the funding. David Horovitz examines the perverse logic behind this largely symbolic attack on the U.S.-Israel alliance:

That Democratic members of Congress today would even wish to prevent, never mind succeed in preventing, the smooth approval of funding for the Iron Dome dismally underlines the immorality taking hold in small but now self-evidently potent areas of that party when it comes to Israel. For seeking to deny funds to Israel for the Iron Dome is indeed immoral. This is a military system whose sole purpose and capability is defensive. It keeps people alive despite terrorists’ best attempts to kill them. It is the vital first line of defense against the war crime of indiscriminate rocket fire directed at civilians.

Those U.S. legislators doing their utmost to deprive Israel of its protection are attempting to abandon Israelis to that deadly fire. . . . Without the protection afforded by the Iron Dome, it is worth stressing, the Israeli military would likely be forced to resort to greater use of firepower when the home front comes under rocket attack, in order to limit the duration of the conflict and minimize Israeli civilian deaths—likely leading to greater civilian casualties in the terrorists’ home territory. In other words, far from protecting Palestinian civilians, hobbling the Iron Dome would probably have the opposite effect.

But the very readiness, the cynical scheming to target the Iron Dome, of all things, is despicable and unforgivable. It shows that, for some legislators, obsessed by a loathing for a small state in a toxic region, absolutely no avenue is off-limits when it comes to harming Israel and rendering its people vulnerable to their would-be killers.

For some time, opponents of U.S support for Israel have been urging the White House to end the war in Gaza, or simply calling for a ceasefire. Douglas Feith and Lewis Libby consider what such a result would actually entail:

Ending the war immediately would allow Hamas to survive and retain military and governing power. Leaving it in the area containing the Sinai-Gaza smuggling routes would ensure that Hamas can rearm. This is why Hamas leaders now plead for a ceasefire. A ceasefire will provide some relief for Gazans today, but a prolonged ceasefire will preserve Hamas’s bloody oppression of Gaza and make future wars with Israel inevitable.

For most Gazans, even when there is no hot war, Hamas’s dictatorship is a nightmarish tyranny. Hamas rule features the torture and murder of regime opponents, official corruption, extremist indoctrination of children, and misery for the population in general. Hamas diverts foreign aid and other resources from proper uses; instead of improving life for the mass of the people, it uses the funds to fight against Palestinians and Israelis.

Moreover, a Hamas-affiliated website warned Gazans last month against cooperating with Israel in securing and delivering the truckloads of aid flowing into the Strip. It promised to deal with those who do with “an iron fist.” In other words, if Hamas remains in power, it will begin torturing, imprisoning, or murdering those it deems collaborators the moment the war ends. Thereafter, Hamas will begin planning its next attack on Israel:

Hamas’s goals are to overshadow the Palestinian Authority, win control of the West Bank, and establish Hamas leadership over the Palestinian revolution. Hamas’s ultimate aim is to spark a regional war to obliterate Israel and, as Hamas leaders steadfastly maintain, fulfill a Quranic vision of killing all Jews.

Hamas planned for corpses of Palestinian babies and mothers to serve as the mainspring of its October 7 war plan. Hamas calculated it could survive a war against a superior Israeli force and energize enemies of Israel around the world. The key to both aims was arranging for grievous Palestinian civilian losses. . . . That element of Hamas’s war plan is working impressively.