Israel vs Hamas and Iran and Russia and China.

In the wake of Hamas' horrific attack on Israel, there will be a war and then there must a reckoning.

By now everyone should be aware of the horrific October 7th invasion by Hamas into Israel. Over 1300 are dead in Israel and many more are wounded. New discoveries of unspeakable horrors committed during the attack are still being made. There are also 126 hostages who were taken to Gaza by Hamas. Their fates hang in the balance.

Israel has begun to retaliate and Hamas claims thousands are dead as a result. Israel is preparing to launch a ground invasion to destroy Hama, which may have begun by the time you read this.

For complete coverage, I recommend Tablet Magazine’s collection, and Dan Senor’s “Call Me Back” podcast.

What happens next? As I already mentioned, Israel will seek to destroy Hamas with the goals of removing it as a governing entity in Gaza and insuring it can no longer attack Israelis. Achieving these goal will not be easy, but both are necessary in my opinion. Will U.S. and Western support give them the latitude to do what must be done?

Of immediate concern is how Hezbollah, with troops in southern Lebanon, and Iran (which likely helped plan Hamas’ invasion) will respond to Israeli retaliation. Both have signaled they will attack Israel if Israel launches a ground war in Gaza. Deterring this threatened widening of the war is one reason the United States has moved two aircraft carriers into the region.

These things must be considered against the backdrop of Russia’s and China’s warm relationship with Iran. Dan McLaughlin wrote about this recently for National Review:

The Hamas invasion of Israel underlines a basic reality of the current world order that has been increasingly obvious for some time: China, Russia, and Iran have grown into a new Axis. This Axis opposes and menaces the West and the world’s liberal and/or democratic states and their allies — including Israel, Ukraine, and Taiwan. For that reason, it tends to draw into its orbit all of the enemies of Western liberal democracy. We need to be realistic about this fact, and about what it implies.

As Israel wages war on Hamas, we in the United States need to have a reckoning with numerous dangerous things exposed by Hamas’ surprise attack. I’ve already mentioned the relationship China, Russia, and Iran have formed. This requires a bold and well thought out response. I recently wrote about the need for a response to China.

A reckoning also needs to come for the shocking amount of anti-Semitism expressed in the United States and other Western nations. This hateful rhetoric was not confined to the political Left, and Conservatives like myself cannot allow it to fester on our side. I’m hopeful the Left will clean up it’s act too by removing certain members of Congress. Ben Domenech has an excellent post on this subject.

I imagine eventually Israelis will seek answers to the apparent intelligence failures that did not detect Hamas’ invasion in time to prepare an adequate defense. One also wonders how much longer Benjamin Netanyahu can remain in leadership. Israel has had five elections in the past five years, and has endured divisive protests most of 2023. They can no longer afford this level of political division.

Since we’re talking about damaging division, as I write Republicans in the House of Representatives don’t seem to have a candidate for Speaker that can actually get elected. This too must be reckoned with, and quickly.

Finally, a serious reckoning needs to take place with the Obama and Biden Administrations for what Semafor reported in late September. Robert Malley, lead negotiator of the Iran deal for Obama and Biden Envoy to Iran, placed a person loyal to Iran in the State Department and then the Pentagon. Congress is set to investigate this, if it can ever elect a Speaker.