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The abuse of powers so hallmark to the Obama years becomes a new beast under Joe Biden.Every once in a while, there is a seminal article written that elucidates political calculations not obvious on their surface. In particular, foreign policy matters tend to be complicated to the point that most Americans focus little attention on understanding the motivations of presidents’ foreign policy decisions despite their broad national security implications.
One of the most important columns that comes to mind is Michael Doran’s brilliant essay from 2015 entitled Obama’s Secret Iran Strategy in which Doran explains Barack Obama’s motivation for empowering Iran as a regional hegemon at the expense of U.S. national security and regional alliances.
That column was followed in 2021 by another must read essay co-written by Doran and Tony Badran entitled The Realignment in which the authors conclude that in the Middle East, “Biden is finishing what Obama started. And his top advisers are on board.”
The authors discuss the influence of returning Obama advisors on a policy intended to realign the Middle Eastern order into “one that relies more on partnership with Iran.” They recognize this initiative as the “Obama-Biden-Malley-Blinken-Sullivan initiative” which they labeled “the Realignment” and concluded that despite Trump handing Biden a multilateral alliance designed to contain Iran in the form of the Abraham Accords (with Saudi Arabia on the cusp of joining), Biden instead chose Iran, “setting back the cause of peace” and delivering China and Russia a victory.
Empowering Iran is not the only commonality between the Obama and Biden administrations. Both also used (and continue to use) the federal government to go after their perceived enemies. Obama infamously used the alphabet city of government institutions from the FBI, CIA, NSA, IRS, and DOJ to shut down conservative not-for-profits, discredit and jail conservative voices, and destroy political enemies. And despite Trump’s win, Obama and Hillary Clinton organized the Resistance that bogged down his presidency culminating in two ridiculously partisan impeachments.
But Biden has taken that abuse of the powers of the federal government to new levels as he and his advisors determined that the only way to win a second term as a senile, corrupt, mean-spirited, lying, incompetent, incoherent fool would be to take down his political opponent through the exploitation of the judiciary.
The Democrats not only demonized and undermined the Supreme Court in the hopes of delegitimizing its decisions that limit Biden’s abuse of power; they also completely undermined Americans’ faith in law enforcement and the judiciary as we’ve spent over a year watching the unprecedented witch hunts against a former president of the United States. After FBI raids, a multitude of indictments, and illegitimate criminal prosecutions, Americans see a two-tiered justice system. They understand that the Democrat operatives pretending to be prosecutors and judges are actually tools of the Biden administration seeking to destroy Donald Trump and ensure a Biden second term in order to finish Obama’s promise of transforming America (and the world order).
Which brings me to the most recent seminal essay by Gadi Taub earlier this month entitled The Gantz Megillah in which Taub explained how the Biden administration “is using ex-IDF Chief Benny Gantz as its Trojan horse to impose U.S. demands – and ensure Israel’s defeat in Gaza.” Taub began:
In the eyes of the Biden administration Hamas is the smaller problem. The bigger problem is Benjamin Netanyahu. The U.S. is willing to live with Iran’s proxies everywhere, as part of its ‘regional integration’ policy – i.e., appeasing Iran. But they are unwilling to live with Benjamin Netanyahu’s coalition.
He continued:
Wars provide opportunities, and it seems clear that the opportunity that the Biden administration saw in the Oct. 7 attacks had less to do with ensuring Israel’s security than it did with stifling any remaining resistance to Washington’s pro-Iran regional integration policy.
In other words, with the Realignment at risk given the Netanyahu wartime coalition’s determination to ensure that October 7th remains in the rearview mirror and Israeli citizens can return securely to their homes, Biden must resort to the same tactics that he and Obama used in their attempts to destroy Trump.
Team Obama/Biden (as Badran coined the partners-in-crime) began their anti-Bibi onslaught in a fairly tame manner — helping anti-Bibi protestors in Israel from behind the scenes and calling for a ceasefire while insinuating that without more humanitarian aid, Israel may be committing war crimes. That escalated with what Taub described as “the entire Democrat Party apparatus from Joe Biden on down” directly attacking Israel’s wartime leader:
Biden called Israel’s elected prime minister ‘a bad fucking guy,’ while Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer went so far as to explain to Israelis they made the wrong choice in their elections. Senior Democratic Congressman Jerrold Nadler went Schumer one step better, proclaiming Netanyahu to be the worst Jewish leader in ‘2,000 years.’
And while name-calling and cries of “Armageddon” (similar to Trump is a dictator threatening democracy) are something we’ve come to expect from Biden and Democrats; like Americans, Israelis so far aren’t buying it. Which means that Biden had to up the ante.
Not long ago the administration announced that it was sanctioning Israelis living in Judea and Samaria, which is abhorrent for multiple reasons but especially so given that it’s spent the past three plus years continually issuing sanctions waivers on Iran. It has also threatened to impose sanctions on a unit of the IDF in order to pressure Israeli officials to succumb to Biden demands that he hopes will end the war while he watches the election year clock tick away.
But the threats of an arms embargo, calls for regime change (of an American ally, not Iran!), interference in wartime strategies and decisions, international calls for a ceasefire and humanitarian aid including not exercising the U.S. veto power on an anti-Israel U.N. resolution, and calls for a Palestinian state ad nauseam (with rumors that the administration will join the U.N. in recognition of such a terrorist state) have not resulted in Biden’s intended results — the end of the war with Hamas surviving to attack Israel again in the future. Biden is now desperate as November is quickly approaching. And desperate times call for desperate measures.
Which is how we find ourselves with news that the International Criminal Court will seek to issue arrest warrants for Israel’s Prime Minister Netanyahu and Minister of Defense Yoav Gallant. If ever there were a case of moral depravity, issuing arrest warrants for the elected officials of the only democracy in the Middle East that was forced to fight a war of survival after 1,200 of its citizens were barbarically tortured and murdered while another 250 were kidnapped with over 130 remaining in captivity certainly qualifies. It’s a farce that three Hamas officials will also face arrest warrants. They are terrorists who murder. Netanyahu and Gallant are moral leaders who value life, freedom and peace.
To be clear, Joe Biden is the leader of the free world; he had the ability to stop this before the news of the prosecutor’s request for arrest warrants became official and he has the ability to put an end to it immediately. Pathetic statements of condemnation of the ICC by Blinken were joined by offers of condolences for the death of Iran’s President Raisi — a real tyrant. You can’t make this stuff up but American voters who actually do care about democratic institutions and moral leadership from our elected representatives aren’t fooled.
Where is the U.S. announcing sanctions on every official at the ICC involved in this farcical prosecution? Why is the U.S. continuing to fund the U.N. (after President Trump defunded UNESCO, UNRWA and withdrew from the U.N.’s joke of a Human Rights Council)? Just as there was no Biden Oval Office speech after October 7th, neither is there one in the midst of the flourishing antisemitism on college campuses and U.S. streets. Team Obama/Biden want Bibi gone, they want a more compliant replacement who they can control (Taub describes how Gantz fits the bill), and they want the war over so they can claim a win ahead of the November election.
Just as Biden weaponized the American justice system against Donald Trump in order to win, he is now quietly turning to the international criminal courts to do his bidding by ridding Israel of their wartime cabinet leaders who will not abide by his demands that weaken Israel’s ability to survive the enemies who surround them.
Taub recognized:
It is not at all clear that Israel can survive four more years of a Democratic administration determined to carve out a Palestinian terror state in the heart of the land of Israel, as part of an ‘integrated’ – that is, Iran-dominated – Middle East. If it is to survive at all, Israel must break the noose that Iran is assembling around us, and which the Biden administration is actively promoting and protecting.
As a postscript, one more commonality has arisen between Obama and Biden. Despite admitting that he was inserting daylight into the strong U.S./Israel alliance, Obama was able to convince American Jews that he was a friend of Israel. They helped hand him a second-term victory following which he was – not surprisingly – completely unleashed to enter into the Iran nuclear deal, which put Iran on a glide path to nuclear weapons. And his final middle finger to Bibi and the Jewish people was allowing UNSC resolution 2334 to pass, which recognized any Jewish settlement in Judea and Samaria, including East Jerusalem, as a violation of international law.
Similarly, a Biden administration official has just been videotaped admitting that he too will be unleashed in a second term to treat Israel as a pariah, which may include cutting off all military support.
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Let’s hope this time, American Jews recognize a friend from an enemy when they vote in November. As Taub noted, it is not clear that Israel can survive four more years of Democrats in the White House.
Lauri B. Regan is Vice Chair and New York chapter president of the Endowment for Middle East Truth.
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