The U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum recently announced and then canceled the release of a study purporting to show—using computer modeling and game theory—that American intervention to halt Bashar al-Assad’s slaughter of his own citizens would not have succeeded. The study, overseen by the Obama-administration national-security official Cameron Hudson, appeared to be a defense of the previous president’s inaction in the face of the Syrian regime’s war crimes and atrocities—while also ignoring his assiduous efforts to provide ample funds to Iran, Assad’s most important backer. Noah Rothman comments:

On Wednesday, United Nations war-crimes investigators indicted the Syrian dictator Bashar al-Assad and his government for complicity in the commission of gross crimes against humanity, including the use of weapons of mass destruction against civilians. . . . One of the earliest and most grotesque of these assaults . . . took place in 2013 in Ghouta. There, approximately 1,000 people died as a result of exposure to sarin [gas].

It was this attack that finally compelled Barack Obama to take seriously his year-old, self-set “red line” for action in Syria. . . . His [resulting] speech was a Frankenstein’s monster of last-minute attempts to absolve [himself] of his responsibilities as president, and he’s been struggling to clarify his motives ever since. “I’m very proud of this moment,” Obama told Jeffrey Goldberg, unconvincingly, almost exactly one year before the massacre at Khan Sheikhoun, [where Syrian troops again used sarin gas on civilians]. . . .

If history was inclined to provide Obama absolution for his inaction in the face of war crimes, you might think his team would be content to allow history to run its course. They’re not. . . . The Holocaust Museum’s Memorial Council members at the time of this report’s composition included former Obama-administration officials who are deeply invested in ensuring that history [vindicates him]. Among them are the former deputy national security adviser Ben Rhodes and several Obama-era National Security Council members. . . .

It wasn’t Obama’s lofty rhetoric but his apprehension that emboldened Assad to exacerbate the worst humanitarian and refugee crisis of the century. That’s a legacy that needs polishing. Apparently, team Obama isn’t above hijacking the moral authority of Holocaust memorials in the pursuit of that objective.

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.