When the Iran-backed jihadists of Hamas attacked Israel, butchering Jews in numbers equivalent to more than 45,000 Americans, raping them, and taking them hostage, the genocidal Jew-haters sparked a potential global conflagration. By murdering and taking Americans hostage, as Iran and its proxies have been doing since the very start of the mullahs’ theocratic takeover, Hamas also took this fight to us.
That our greatest ally; most pivotal military, intelligence, and technological partner; and the first line of defense in a bellicose, often barbarous, and anti-American region is under existential threat, and that the threat has come for our people, compels an American response.
By the same token, many are rightly skeptical about involving ourselves in any foreign conflict — let alone one in the Middle East, where over the last quarter-century Americans have sacrificed so much in blood and treasure, only to see our nation’s power erode and the threats persist. We are a divided country, thinly stretched, and war-weary.
Given this volatile situation, and Americans’ competing concerns, what does the U.S. national interest demand with respect to the war forced on Israel and us? I propose three things.
1. Defend Americans and Secure the Homeland
This starts with using all elements of national power to pressure Iran and its proxies — including Qatar, where Hamas’ leadership lives in luxury — to force the return of American hostages immediately. The scandal that this has not yet occurred is only enlarged by the fact that the Biden administration’s coddling of
