On Tuesday, Benjamin Netanyahu confirmed reports that he is planning a visit to China, most likely in October, and that he informed the White House of his plans last month. Richard Kemp explains the economic and strategic reasons for such a diplomatic move, and responds to the critical reactions:

Those who have attacked the planned visit as poking a stick in President Biden’s eye after he failed to extend an invitation to the White House, or even suggested Netanyahu is looking for an alternative partner to the U.S., are clearly mistaken. The former thought underestimates Netanyahu’s political savvy—whatever anyone thinks of his policies and character—and the latter is simply laughable.

Netanyahu is never going to lead his country closer to the Chinese dictatorship at the expense of the fundamental relationship with America, just as the first Israeli prime minister, David Ben-Gurion, was never going to opt for Soviet patronage in defiance of America despite immense pressure from Stalin to do so. The U.S. is and will remain Israel’s closest and most important strategic and military ally and the two countries share common cultural, liberal, and democratic values. China’s repressive Communist autocracy, on the other hand, is anathema to Israelis, including the current government.

Diplomacy and communication between Xi Jinping and one of America’s staunchest allies can only benefit Washington’s relations with the second-most powerful nation on the planet. Netanyahu is not the French president Emmanuel Macron, who publicly challenged the U.S. over European strategic autonomy as well as its Taiwan policy during his visit to Beijing in April, playing straight into the hands of Xi. The Israeli prime minister is an experienced political leader who will not allow himself or his country to be exploited by the Chinese Communist Party and will have in mind American interests as well as Israel’s.

Moreover, Kemp notes, it would be hard for Washington to object to the visit when Secretary of State Antony Blinken just made his own trip to Beijing last week.

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.