America Must Stand Up to Iran, for Israel’s Sake and Its Own

Oct. 20 2023

The junior partner to China and Russia in the anti-American coalition is the Islamic Republic of Iran. Yesterday, a U.S. navy ship intercepted missiles launched from Yemen, apparently at Israel—almost certainly fired by Tehran’s Yemeni proxies. Meanwhile, other members of the same terror network attempted drone attacks on American troops in Iraq. Iran is also (along with Qatar) the primary sponsor of Hamas, and evidence is mounting of its role in the October 7 massacres. Efraim Inbar writes:

Israelis savor the unequivocal American support for its war on Hamas. Biden’s longstanding and evident friendship with the Jewish state is warming Israeli hearts. . . . Less pleasant to Israeli ears is the reluctance of the Biden administration to blame Iran for the tragic events along the Gaza border. Secretary of State Antony Blinken refused to acknowledge an Iranian role in the attack, even though more evidence of clear links to Tehran is being presented in the American media.

Hamas would not exist without the support of Iran, which has regularly sent funds to support it. Tehran trained the Hamas terrorists, smuggled weapons into the Gaza Strip, and transferred the technology needed to build a local industry capable of producing missiles. And those are the missiles that are launched against Israel’s population centers. [But] Washington’s deliberate blind eye to Iran’s mischief in the region—even when its naval ships were harassed by vessels of the Iranian Islamic Guards—amounts to ostrich-like behavior.

The only recipe for a more peaceful Middle East is for the U.S. to attack Iran’s nuclear infrastructure—or give Israel all it needs to do it.

Read more at Jerusalem Post

More about: Antony Blinken, Gaza War 2023, Iran, U.S. Foreign policy, U.S.-Israel relationship

Egypt Is Trapped by the Gaza Dilemma It Helped to Create

Feb. 14 2025

Recent satellite imagery has shown a buildup of Egyptian tanks near the Israeli border, in violation of Egypt-Israel agreements going back to the 1970s. It’s possible Cairo wants to prevent Palestinians from entering the Sinai from Gaza, or perhaps it wants to send a message to the U.S. that it will take all measures necessary to keep that from happening. But there is also a chance, however small, that it could be preparing for something more dangerous. David Wurmser examines President Abdel Fatah el-Sisi’s predicament:

Egypt’s abysmal behavior in allowing its common border with Gaza to be used for the dangerous smuggling of weapons, money, and materiel to Hamas built the problem that exploded on October 7. Hamas could arm only to the level that Egypt enabled it. Once exposed, rather than help Israel fix the problem it enabled, Egypt manufactured tensions with Israel to divert attention from its own culpability.

Now that the Trump administration is threatening to remove the population of Gaza, President Sisi is reaping the consequences of a problem he and his predecessors helped to sow. That, writes Wurmser, leaves him with a dilemma:

On one hand, Egypt fears for its regime’s survival if it accepts Trump’s plan. It would position Cairo as a participant in a second disaster, or nakba. It knows from its own history; King Farouk was overthrown in 1952 in part for his failure to prevent the first nakba in 1948. Any leader who fails to stop a second nakba, let alone participates in it, risks losing legitimacy and being seen as weak. The perception of buckling on the Palestine issue also resulted in the Egyptian president Anwar Sadat’s assassination in 1981. President Sisi risks being seen by his own population as too weak to stand up to Israel or the United States, as not upholding his manliness.

In a worst-case scenario, Wurmser argues, Sisi might decide that he’d rather fight a disastrous war with Israel and blow up his relationship with Washington than display that kind of weakness.

Read more at The Editors

More about: Egypt, Gaza War 2023