Anti-Israel Democrats’ Legislative Shenanigans

Feb. 14 2024

Since Seth Mandel wrote the following piece about the legislative deadlock over the bill to provide military aid to Ukraine and Israel, it has successfully been passed by the Senate, although it still faces a hostile Republican leadership in the House. Mandel’s explanation of how the situation came about, and the chances of getting out of it, remains relevant:

Of course, the New York Times tells us, the Democrats “also have a wish list of changes” [to the bill]. What do the Democrats hope Santa brings them? A potshot stunt aimed to satisfy their desire to mess with Israel. “Nearly twenty Democratic senators, most of them from the left wing of the party, have signed on to a proposal that would require recipients of security aid to use weapons in accordance with U.S. law, international humanitarian law, and the laws of armed conflict—and not hamper efforts to send humanitarian aid to civilians.”

These Democrats are looking for a way to bend their own interpretation of something Israel will do in the future to try to tie the Jewish state’s hands behind its back while Hamas keeps shooting. It won’t pass or even accomplish anything constructive, but Congress can’t throw a bad-faith party without inviting the Squad, so here we are.

Still, the bill’s having received 67 votes without yet tossing a few sardines to the dolphins is a sign that there really is a path for this legislation.

Read more at Commentary

More about: Congress, Democrats, U.S.-Israel relationship, War in Ukraine

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