"Listen, my children, and you shall hear
Of the midnight ride of Paul Revere,
On the eighteenth of April, in Seventy-Five:
Hardly a man is now alive
Who remembers that famous day and year.
"He said to his friend, 'If the British march
By land or sea from the town to-night,
Hang a lantern aloft in the belfry-arch
Of the North-Church-tower, as a signal-light,—
One if by land, and two if by sea;
And I on the opposite shore will be,
Ready to ride and spread the alarm…'"
(from "Paul Revere's Ride" by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow)
If we slightly amend this line, "One if by land, and two if by sea" we can now describe the new plan of Biden's U.S. military regarding the Gazan situation. It would have to read, instead, "One if by air, and two if by sea."
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Longfellow wrote from an American point of view, against their enemy, the British. This slightly edited line might well apply to Israel, vis a vis their enemy, the United States.
Say what? Are we calling the United States the enemy of Israel? Yes, indeed, at least with regard to this one policy of their, the shoe, unhappily, fits.
Here is another poetic aphorism: "The friend of my enemy is my enemy." Who is Israel's enemy in its post October 7, 2024 conflagration? Why, Hamas, of course. And who is Hamas's friend? It cannot be doubted that the friend of Hamas is none other than the US. First, it airdrops thousands of meals to areas controlled by Hamas. Second, this country announces it will be building a pier, to even more easily facilitate delivery of food and medicines to the Gazans under Hamas control.
If that is not friendship to Hamas, then there is no such thing as friendship to Hamas.
Suppose the following. Posit that the US was now in a war with Canada. It was striving mightily to conquer that terrorist nation to the north of it. And, during this war, the Israeli air force was dropping food to the Canadians, and the Israeli navy was getting ready to build a pier which would enable it to deliver even more aid packages.
Would the US government threaten to bomb Israel, in retaliation? Would the US government blow those Israeli airplanes out of the air, and sink those Israeli naval vessels to the bottom of the sea. No. They would not. These two countries have a long history of being foremost allies. Instead, the US government would send this message to Israel:
"Have you lost your f***ing minds? Do you not realize that we are at war with Canada? Do you not realize that you are aiding and abetting a terrorist organization, the Canadians, that just did to us what Hamas did to you on October 7, 2023? Do you not realize that the Canadians have sworn to repeat this depraved, despicable, monstrous act of theirs against us again and again in the future? We are on the verge of conquering them, and you're helping them? What gives?
"Were any other country to have done what you have already done regarding airdrops, and, worse, are planning to do more intensively with ships and piers, we would not have treated them with the kid gloves we are now offering you. But friendship can only go so far. We are in a life and death struggle with the evil Canadians, and we cannot be held guilty for how we retaliate against those who support those terrorists and thus undermine our efforts against them."
Here is yet another aphorism we should contend with: "pouring oil over troubled waters." Only in this case, the senile Biden (he announced these anti-Israel policies in his recent State of the Union Address), is pouring gasoline on a fire in an attempt to put it out.
We are now in the holy month of Ramadan. Hamas is reeling from the attack against it on the part of IDF. This organization is now hanging by a thread. The sort of aid the US is offering to Hamas can only strengthen the latter. Without it, their surrender, and release of some 100 Israeli hostages, might be only days away. With it, they might well be able to hang on, and fight against Israeli women and children another day. Does the US really want to take on responsibility for that eventuality?
It takes a certain class of nerve, call it world-class chutzpah, for a nation that has not won a war since 1945 (sorry, Grenada simply does not count), to offer military advice to a country that has won every war it has ever entered, even though it has had to fight each and every one of them with at least one hand tied behind its back, since it is all too subservient to world opinion. Thank goodness that Netanyahu is cocking a snook at what others think. He is keeping his eye on the ball: total surrender of Hamas, thank goodness.
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