By Paul Vallas

May 29, 2024

Shortly after Hamas October 7th attack on a major Saudi-owned newspaper, Asharq al-Awsat, Tariq Alhomayed, the newspaper’s former editor, criticized Hamas and Palestinian factions for waging what he called a “useless war.” He accused them of trying to sabotage the prospects for Saudi-Israeli normalization — and of serving their Iranian backers at the expense of the Palestinian people. “Iran does not want to see real peace, or specifically Saudi-Israeli peace,” he wrote. “Because if it happens, it will be the peace that will change the face of the region.”

*Iran is the real enemy and America is their ultimate target

The government of Iran, which for years has been engaged in a shadow war with Israel and has supported Hamas, cheered the group’s attack on Israel. Too many are blind to the brutal nature of the Iranian regime and its state sponsored terrorism or the war crimes being committed by Iran supported Syrian President Assad against the ethnic majorities. Yes, peace requires addressing long-standing Palestinian issues but there is no justification for acts of violence nor the naïveté of those who underestimate the degree to which Iran is using its proxies to advance its own agenda at the expense of Palestinian people.

The Middle East conflict is marked by complex geopolitical factors, but there’s no mistaking that Iran poses the most significant obstacle to peace in the region. While this conflict is often viewed as Israeli, it is also an American struggle. Iran’s objective is to dominate the Middle East and diminish American influence, with Israel acting as a roadblock to their ambitions. Iran has been at odds with the United States for decades, perpetrating attacks on Americans. They have managed to avoid direct blame by relying on its proxies, Hamas and Hezbollah.

It is also a larger Arab struggle. Hamas is funded, armed and advised by a Shia Iran, the committed enemy of the Sunni Arab world. Iran has no qualms about funding groups that kill other Muslims if it furthers their goals of dominating the region. Egypt blocks the migration of Palestinians on the western border of Gaza, Jordan won’t allow Palestinians from Gaza to enter their country as they fear Hamas. Arab leaders have never educated their populations that Iran and its surrogates is the real threat. Now they tremble in fear that anger in the streets from people fed lies for decades about Israel will threaten their rule.

The Hamas attack is just one facet of Iran’s covert war against Israel and the United States. Iran is determined to disrupt the potential for normalization between Saudi Arabia and Israel. Hamas serves this end by following the orders of their Iranian backers, most often at the expense of the Palestinian people. Iran does not want genuine peace, particularly between Saudi Arabia and Israel, because such peace would transform the entire region. Iran is the lingering threat, a sentiment shared by most of the Arab world. They fear Iran more than they fear Israel.

It’s no coincidence that the Hamas attack occurred just as Israel and Saudi Arabia, along with other Arab nations, were on the verge of reaching an agreement on normalization of relations. Iran is the lingering threat, a sentiment shared by most of the Arab world. They fear Iran more than they fear Israel. President Biden is right to be concerned about escalating this conflict, but the fear of escalation can inadvertently invite it if it is perceived as a sign of weakness. This raises a crucial question; can the United States afford to let Iran acquire nuclear weapons?

*Proportionate response?

Since 2014 when Israel left Gaza, over 20,000, unguided missiles have been fired into Israel with the obvious intention of killing Israeli civilians. Since the recent attack over 5,000 have been fired. Where is the public outcry from those who have condemning Israels surgical strikes into Gaza. Would it be “proportionate response” as the international community is demanding of Israel to fire the same number of middles into Gaza? It’s clear Israel is being held and judged by a different standard than Hamas who are subject to no standard at all.

The attacks have been condemned as war crimes, both because they usually target civilians and because the weapons’ inaccuracy would disproportionately endanger civilians even if military targets were chosen. Human Rights Watch has also condemned the attackers for firing from near residential structures, thus putting Gazan civilians at unnecessary risk. According to Israeli human rights group B’Tselem, Palestinian organizations that fire Qassam rockets openly declare that they intend to strike, among other targets, Israeli civilians.

*Hamas’ brutal attack on Israel is not Israel’s 911 but their Dunkirk

Hamas’ brutal attack on Israel has been called Israel’s 911 but comparisons to Dunkirk may be more appropriate. The attack marks the onset of a significant and protracted battle for survival. Israel cannot afford to adopt a wait-and-see approach, with jihadists operating in southern Israel and an array of rockets from Lebanon targeting Israeli population centers. In 2001 after 911 the United States dealt with loosely affiliated terrorist groups. In 2023, Israel confronts a well-established network of state and state-like actors, including Hamas, Hezbollah, Russia, Syria, Turkey, and Qatar, all underpinned by Iran. Surrounded, this is a struggle for Israel’s very existence.

This isn’t merely a group of jihadists hiding in caves but a messianic mission to extinguish the Jewish state. Israel must rally at a national level, much like the situation in Dunkirk and rely on the US commitment to its defense. The Biden administration’s ill-advised commitment to the Iran deal must not supersede the needs of America’s closest ally. The landscape has shifted, and Israel’s tactics may exceed what the U.S. administration deems acceptable. Any attempts to push Israel into an ill-conceived ceasefire will be rejected. Israel faces a new reality.

*It’s time for those who are concerned about these issues to become informed and engaged

Hamas is one of the world’s wealthiest terrorist organizations, making over $700 million annually, ranking third behind the Taliban and Hezbollah. Their leaders enjoy luxurious lifestyles. When Hamas took control of Gaza in 2007, they had every opportunity to transform it into a prosperous oasis with advanced infrastructure, healthcare, education systems, and self-sustained power generation. Instead, they squandered their billions on building rockets and tunnels.

Hamas came to murder innocent people — men, women, children, elderly, knowing full well that Israel’s response will cost the lives of Palestinian civilians. They want the Israeli bombing to kill civilians-women and children, the elderly and the disabled. The need that visual to mobilize anger not only among Moslem states but worldwide, against Israel. That’s why they embed their military arsenals among schools, hospitals and mosques using the population as human shields and unwitting martyrs to the cause. Shame on those who refuse to label the Israeli Hamas attackers as terrorists.

*There are rabid anti-semites on the far left and far right, the only difference is the far left is equally anti American

Elected officials who let ideological viewpoints blind them from recognizing Hamas’ brutality, not only towards the Israelis but against their own people, and the role Iran has played in supporting terrorist groups to advance their own interests, behave irresponsibly and shamefully and only embolden the terrorists and their sponsors like Iran. Unfortunately, many are blinded by their own anti-Semitism and anti-Americanism.

The American far left often overlooks the brutality of regimes like Iran, the Assad regime in Syria, the Taliban’s oppression of women in Afghanistan, the Myammer’s brutal persecution of the Rohingyas, Nigerias Boko Haran kidnapping of women from whole villages, the historic atrocities of the Soviet Union and China that killed tens of millions of their own people. Today, Russia is the deliberately bombing Ukrainians civilians while the Chinese crowd a million Uyghurs into concentration camps.

They seem to be selectively blind, especially when it comes to anti-Semitism. Consider the stark contrast on how colleges handle various issues. Microaggressions receive strong moral condemnation, while acts like “misgendering” and “harmful language” are publicly denounced and punished. However, the mass killing of Jews in Israel by the genocidal terrorist organization receives no condemnations or are accompanied by moral equivalencies.

Unfortunately,college campuses often tolerate and even glorify the murder of Jews. Anti-Semitism is equally rampant on both the left and right with few having the courage to acknowledge and the call it out. Jewish college students frequently face hostility from the left, with many equating “American Jew” with “Israeli supporter of Netanyahu” and attempting to silence Jewish voices, regardless of their relevance to the Middle East. While some on the far right openly expresses hatred towards Jews, the far-left attempts to rationalize their hatred by focusing on Zionism.

The Democratic Socialists of America (DSA), for example chant at their rally “from the River to the Sea,” a call for the eradication of the Jewish State, amid one of the largest single-day massacres of Jews since the Holocaust. The far Left’s anti-Semitism is matched if not exceeded by its anti-Americanism, not only blaming American support for Israel’s actions in the Middle East but seemingly blaming American capitalism and our foreign policy for global problems. Consider the Left’s blaming American “racist foreign police” for the current migrant crisis.

American radicals amongst the Ivy’s seem to be embracing Derek Bells “Critical Race Theory” viewed through the lens of intersectionality. There is a hierarchy of oppressors and oppressed that negates ethical and moral rationality and condones a certain savagery amongst otherwise privileged kids that makes the Maoist revolution seem possible again. It allows for to sets of rules or shall we say one set of rules that only govern the “alleged” aggressors, in the case of the Middle East Israel. It allows the oppressed to attack Israel with the firm intention to slaughter civilians or the launch 20,000 rockets indiscriminately with the firm intent to kill civilians, receiving no condemnation from the left.

*Iran seems free to continue to inflict death & destruction

Meanwhile, Iran is largely ignored as it continues to inflict death & destruction on civilians through its surrogates like Hamas, to further its goals of dominating the Middle East. The Syrian Civil War has seen over 500,000 killed, including over 300,000 civilians. The UK based Syrian Network for Human Rights (SNHR) reports that the murderous Iran backed Bashar al-Assad’s Syrian government has been responsible for 91% of the civilian and 84% of children killed. Iran’s the real enemy of peace.

Silence from the left and on college campuses, not only to the brutality of the Iranian backed Assad regime but also the brutal crackdown on Iranian’s own civilians. No protests or condemnation for the Iranian morality police murder of 22-year-old Mahsa Amini for not wearing her Hajib and the continued brutal crackdown on those protesting her death. The crackdown has left more than 500 people dead and has detained some 22,000, executing several detained protesters, according to human rights experts.

Lasting peace in the Middle East requires that the needs of the Palestinian people are addressed. However, this can only happen if Iran’s proxies are recognized for who they are, their stranglehold on their captive populations is loosened, and Iran is no longer seen as a threat. In the Middle East, Iran stands as the primary obstacle to peace. The Hamas attack is just one facet of Iran’s covert war against Israel and the United States. As for the American far Left, they have shown their true colors. The sooner the American public realize that the faster they can be marginalized at the ballot box.

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Paul Vallas formerly ran the public school systems in Chicago, Philadelphia and the Louisiana Recovery School District. He was a candidate for Mayor of Chicago.