How to End Hamas's War
on Israel This Week
by Lawrence Kadish
December 10, 2023 at 5:00 am
Iran's militia
groups have initiated more than 82 attacks -- just
since October 17 -- on US forces and assets in Syria and Iraq. The latest, on
the US Embassy in Baghdad, is an attack on US sovereign territory. During
Biden's presidency, Iran has initiated 151 attacks against the US. Forty-six US
service members have so far been wounded, 19 seriously,
with traumatic brain injury.
These strikes do
not include Iran's having largely funded and helped plan a
savage invasion of Israel by an estimated 3,000 Gazans under
the direction of Iran's proxy, the terrorist group Hamas, on October 7. Once
there, they murdered 1,200 people; raped and tortured an untold number, and
kidnapped around 240, about 100 of whom
-- women and children -- have been released. Several hostages have reportedly
been murdered (here, here and here).
The Biden
administration has thankfully been supportive of Israel defending itself and
trying to rescue those hostages who remain. The Biden administration
immediately sent naval ships and fighter jets to
the region to prevent the war from spreading to Lebanon and other countries
nearby; and on December 8, vetoed an attempt by the United Nations Security
Council to force Israel to submit prematurely to a ceasefire.
Before October
7, there was a ceasefire. Regrettably, Hamas broke it. A few
weeks later, there was another humanitarian ceasefire to which Israel agreed.
Hamas broke that one, too. Hamas refused to release the list of people who were
to be delivered on the ceasefire's last day, possibly because Hamas was afraid of what they
might say about how they had been treated in captivity. This week, when Israel
created a safe zone in the southern Gaza Strip for Gazans, Hamas used that humanitarian zone to
fire rockets into Israel.
The US could
stop these assaults tomorrow. So far, the Biden administration has appeared
unwilling even to entertain the thought of addressing Hamas's patron, Iran.
Here are a few possible ways:
- Incapacitate the port from which
Iran exports its oil to China and other customers.
- Incapacitate Iran's four major
oil refineries, as Senator Lindsay Graham has suggested.
Alternatively, incapacitate just one and mention that others might follow.
- Send each of Iran's theocratic
leaders and those in the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) a photo
of his house. It worked magnificently after the US eliminated IRGC
Commander Qasem Soleimani in 2020, as a warning against retaliation. Iran
stopped its aggression effectively that minute.
- Enforce or reimpose sanctions on
Iran, as well as restrictions on international banking. Also impose
secondary sanctions: Whoever is doing business with Iran may not do
business with the US.
- Warn the mullahs that for each of
the hostage seized -- not just the Americans, all hostages -- an Iranian
target has been selected; for each hostage that is harmed, one site will
be taken out.
- Target the IRGC training center
and key IRGC bases, as advocated by
US General Jack Keane.
All it would
take is political will.
Lawrence Kadish serves on the Board of Governors of Gatestone Institute.
