Commentary
When I heard that U.S. President Joe Biden authorized the release of $100 million of U.S. taxpayer money to support “humanitarian relief” in Gaza, I was shocked. The blood of the Americans killed in Israel by Hamas was hardly dry. Almost all of the Americans kidnapped by Hamas and held in Gaza are still in captivity. And we decide we’re sending them money? AMERICAN money?
I know people are trying to draw a line between Hamas and the average people of Gaza. But they also need to remember that Hamas is in power in Gaza because the people of Gaza elected them. And Hamas would be in charge of the entire West Bank as well, if it were not for a concerted effort between the Palestinian Authority, Israel, Jordan, and numerous other interested parties to keep them out. But even if it were possible to wholly separate Hamas from the people who elected and sustain them, Gaza is, simply, not our problem. It is not the responsibility of the United States to clean up all of the world’s bad decisions. We’ve given Gaza Hamas hundreds of millions of dollars over many years, and we end up with rockets and bombs, with kidnapping and murders. We end up with ... this:
So yes, I was shocked that we were funneling even more money into the Gaza money pit, but I shouldn’t have been. The United States has been wasting money in Gaza for decades. Even though Gaza is run by a terror regime which is literally constituted to destroy our ally Israel, we continue to pump money into the region. Given that the government of Hamas is thoroughly and irredeemably corrupt, most of the money we give them is siphoned off into the hands of plutocrats or into Hamas’ militant wing, where it is used to build tunnels, rockets, and to support other means of Islamist-inspired terror.
Even in the case where humanitarian aid is used for humanitarian purposes, it simply offsets the money that Hamas would otherwise be forced to use for goods and services for their people. So, for example, if I have a budget of $100 million to split between the classic “guns or butter” dilemma, and the Americans give me another $100 million ... well, folks, if I’m Hamas then it looks like I now have $200 million for guns. Forget about the butter. Thanks (and death to) America!
We should never provide another U.S. cent to Gaza, while Hamas governs. Not a penny. And the only things we should be sending into Gaza right now are missiles targeting their leadership and SEAL Team 6 to do hostage recovery. Anything we do for Gaza in the future should be contingent upon no further harm coming to any Americans, and the immediate return of **all** Americans held hostage in Gaza, or their remains.
Iran and its proxies regularly attack U.S. interests, and more importantly U.S. citizens, around the world, with near impunity. I served in Iraq multiple times, and I still remember the training teams and copper-faced explosively-formed penetrators (EFPs) that Iran sent to increase the lethality of Iraq’s insurgents. Just today, I read a story about how Iran’s proxy forces, operating from a safe haven in Iraq, attacked U.S. service members in Syria. Eventually, it will be time to rebuild in Gaza and in Israel. When that time comes, the money should come from Iran. Iran is the known state sponsor of both Hamas and Hezbollah. They provide the training, the money, the material support, and the political backing for both organizations, as well as terrorist organizations around the world. In short, they are just as responsible for Hamas’ recent atrocity as Hamas is, and they should pay a similar price.
As part of a very wrongheaded U.S. policy to mend ties with Iran and to somehow convince them to not develop nuclear weapons, the United States agreed to return $6 billion of Iranian money that was frozen in international accounts. The United States should claw that money back, and explicitly hold it in escrow to pay for the wars that Iran is inspiring in Syria, Iraq, Lebanon, and, now, in Israel. We all know that if we actually give that money to Iran that they will only use it to attack America, Americans, our interests, and our allies.
There is a delicious irony in making Iran pay for not only the devastation in Gaza that will result from the war they just helped start, but also in making “the Zionist entity” (as they call it) even stronger. It will also mean no more money going to people who hate us in Gaza. And I’m good with that as well.
The appearance of U.S. Department of Defense (DoD) visual information does not imply or constitute DoD endorsement.
