The Obama administration is finally showing some spine as it races to contain the Mideast crisis sparked by Thursday’s terrorist attack in southern Israel. Let’s hope Washington can keep it up — for a widening of the war on Israel could end all our Mideast hopes.
Israel’s southern cities are under missile attack from Hamas-controlled Gaza. The steady pounding killed at least one Beersheba resident on Saturday and injured dozens. Israeli officials say the only way to end the assault and deter future attacks is to exact a heavy price from Gaza’s Hamas masters and their offshoots.
In Thursday’s operation, terrorists armed with rifles, rocket-propelled grenades, explosive belts and handcuffs (for taking hostages) crossed the Egyptian-Israeli border, shooting at anything that moved on the road to the resort city of Eilat — killing eight Israelis and injuring dozens more.
A few hours later — Israeli intelligence having determined that members of the Gaza-based Popular Resistance Committees organized and carried out the attack — the Israeli Defense Forces killed the top PRC leaders in Gaza. Justice was served and deterrence was restored.
Or was it? Israel now faces strategic dangers even beyond the Hamas-launched missile barrage.
Thursday’s terror was launched from Egypt’s Sinai desert — home to Bedouin smugglers and, increasingly, al-Qaeda-affiliated terrorists with ties to Gaza. In the chaos after the attack, as Israeli soldiers rushed in and the killers retreated back to Sinai, five Egyptian border guards were killed.
Cairo was so outraged that, over the weekend, its leaders announced a recall of its ambassador from Tel Aviv.
Egypt’s increasingly confident Muslim Brotherhood spokesmen, and such presidential candidates as Amre Moussa and Mohammed elBaradei, are fanning the anti-Israel flames, denouncing Israel for killing Egyptian soldiers and launching “murderous” attacks on Gaza.
Once again, Israel tops Egypt’s most-hated list — this time, alongside former President Hosni Mubarak. But, for now, at least, Egypt is ruled by the military, which recognizes (as will anyone who governs the country in the future) that maintaining ties with Israel serves the national interest.
Bowing to outside pressure, Cairo kept its ambassador in Tel Aviv. After Israeli Defense Minister Ehud Barak expressed “regret” over the Egyptian deaths, the two nations launched a joint probe of what really happened.
But wait: Egypt may feel embarrassed over losing control over the Sinai, but it clearly wasn’t the aggrieved party in Thursday’s attack. Nor are the innocent casualties from Israel’s mostly pinpointed and (so far) restrained attack on terror masters in crowded Gaza. Israel, after all, was attacked with no provocation.
Yet Israeli flags burn in Cairo’s streets and across the Mideast. The Arab League yesterday issued a strong condemnation. Aided by Lebanon, Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas managed Friday to block any UN Security Council condemnation of the terrorist attack — and is now pushing the council to condemn Israel for its Gaza operation.
In response to Abbas, US diplomats refused to water down their proposed unequivocal condemnation of the Eilat attack. Good. Now Washington must stand strong against clichéd UN tropes calling on “all sides” to exercise “utmost restraint.”
Officials from President Obama on down also must loudly support Israel as it defends itself against the Iranian-armed Gaza terrorists.
Washington can make sure that the decision to end hostilities won’t fall to biased bodies like the Security Council. Rather, US military officials must heed the needs of their Israeli counterparts, and use backroom channels to lean on Abbas and Egypt’s military rulers — all of whom depend heavily on American aid.
Over the weekend, Western diplomats reportedly succeeded in leaning on Cairo to lower the flames — showing that, despite our loss of prestige in the region, a steadfast America still has clout.
Israel’s government and its top generals recognize that if they fail to respond forcefully, terrorism will only grow. Yet if they go all in (invading Gaza, for example), a restless Arab world may become so enraged that Lebanon and Syria, and perhaps even Egypt, join the war.
If so, our now likely victory in Libya will be lost. Beyond that, the only beneficiaries will be the region’s darkest forces. This is no time to turn our back on an ally.