Boy, the whole Israel/Gaza thing is getting bigger, isn’t it? Hamas attacks Israel with a stupid, deeply ill-advised attack. Israel responds, then KEEPS “responding,” quickly turning international sympathy away from their cause. Joe Biden urges restraint. Israel starts dropping the occasional bomb on places outside of Gaza, first the West Bank, then Damascus, Syria. When they bombed Syria, they killed a bunch of Iranians. The United States continues to supply weapons so Israel can “defend itself.”

So, of course, Iran took it in their turn to respond as well. This they did, but they did it carefully. Their response was designed to send a message, not do any real damage. Joe Biden again urges restraint. Israel, not to be outdone, felt they had to “respond” to Iran’s response to Israel’s assault on the Iranian consulate in Syria. The United States continues to supply weapons so Israel can “defend itself.”

Meanwhile, Israel has not let up one iota in their actions in Gaza. The international community starts clamoring, pleading with Israel to reconsider it’s aggression. Joe Biden again urges restraint. From the world’s point of view, FAR too many civilians are dying. Israel responds to international pressure by “accidentally” destroying a convoy that had delivered humanitarian aid into Gaza after coordinating their movements with Israel to ensure no such accident occurred, slowing international aid, killing more civilians. The United States continues to supply weapons so Israel can “defend itself.”

Joe Biden’s poll ratings suffer from what appears to be ineffective handling of the Israel/Gaza conflict (and because the United States continues to supply weapons so Israel can “defend itself.”) People start taking sides around the world, including the US. Joe Biden continues to urge restraint. Troubles start brewing on American college campuses. People seem to forget these are actions of governments, not people, and racism starts rearing it’s ugly head. The United States continues to supply weapons so Israel can “defend itself.”

Now the International Criminal Court (ICC) is said to be preparing arrest warrants for Israeli leaders as Israel prepares to attack Rafah, the city the Palestinians were told to go to in order to be safe from Israel’s military actions. Oh, did I write “prepares to attack?” I meant “attacks.” Joe Biden again urges restraint. The attack has started – although not yet in earnest – killing 22 people so far. Israel got six women and five children. One of the children was an oh-so-dangerous 5 DAY old baby. Certainly, THAT will stop radicalism, yes? The United States continues to supply weapons so Israel can “defend itself.”

There are a couple of threads, here, that run all the way through. Joe Biden urging restraint hasn’t worked. Israel ignores him so long as the weapons keep coming. And the weapons DO keep coming so, why would they?

In what could be a completely unrelated comment, Ukraine had to cede ground to Russia while the US Roepublicans dithered about whether democracy was worth defending or not. No weapons meant no military action was possible. I’d bet money that same philosophy would apply in Israel. Having no weapons would really hamper Israel’s ability to attack.

I’ve long suspected Biden is obligated by treaty of some kind to provide the weapons and has little choice, but I’m pretty sure he could find ways to gum up the works and delay the delivery of said weapons until Israel gets serious about a cease-fire. It appears Netanyahu is NOT going to stop on his own. I doubt threats of an arrest warrant from the ICC is going to alter his stance. Biden needs to look stronger on Israel and force is going to be needed to rein in Israel.

Everyone knows Biden could stop this assault by simply denying the weapons Israel uses to prosecute the thing and I think that’s exactly what he should do. Because I’ll tell you this: In my opinion, Israel and the Palestinians may well yet wipe each other off of the face of the earth in their stubbornness but American weapons should not be used in the process…