First and foremost I am not among those who see President Biden as a curse upon humanity. He has demonstrated many fine achievements in his lengthy political service to his country. And from an Israeli perspective, it would be incorrect to regard him as someone who doesn’t have Israel’s best interests at heart. But, it has become abundantly clear that the president is far from being in control of his mental faculties, and accordingly also the nation in recent times.
We are witnessing a headlong advance into dangerous territory concerning the American approach to Iran, apparently spearheaded by President Biden. It is hard to reconcile Biden’s repeated antics, more aligned to someone suffering dementia, with the actions of a captain of a fragile ship wallowing in threatening seas. Somebody is clearly steering American foreign policy towards the hidden rocks of hostile territory, and this is of paramount concern, bordering on alarm.
While Biden could be regarded as a weak head of state, he is not alone in this unfolding drama. Miles across the ocean, Israel is also suffering the loss of a viable government leader. Prime Minister Lapid knows he’s not Israel’s first choice to lead the country. Additionally, he is only leader by default as the country heads for a new election just weeks away. Now isn’t that a coincidence as the American government’s fate might depend on its mid-term elections around the same period? Astonishingly, despite Lapid’s narrow mandate to govern and the speed upon which the ship of Israel is careering towards probably another indecisive election, he seems to be positioning the country to join America on a course of possible self-destruction. And the American government plots this course, by an entity unknown.
Maybe, I should reiterate that Israel’s vessel is actually being urged on this possibly reckless compass heading by the American White House. So what exactly is known about the nature of these treacherous waters?
Israel is being urged to take a maritime deal that would ostensibly see Israel’s off shore oil rights be given away to not just its northern neighbor Lebanon, but a Lebanon that is practically run by a terrorist group outlawed by many western nations. Hezbollah has repeatedly vowed to eliminate Israel, and has carried out its threats with numerous horrific attacks against innocent Jews. But, it gets worse. Hezbollah forces fight under the foreign command of Iran, a country gathering nuclear weapons to really bury Israel. Just to put things into perspective, these masters of terrorism also have the destruction of ‘Satan’ America in its sights. There is a reason for mentioning the Iranian factor within the context of what might otherwise be a simple maritime dispute between just Lebanon and Israel, two neighbors sharing the same border.
While Biden has been on the record of supporting all efforts to get Iran back to the nuclear negotiating table, what is Iran’s response? The rogue government is executing its gay population, brutally suppressing any civil rights initiative, even murdering its unarmed leaders. However, beyond that horrific assault on its own people, it is rushing to achieve its nuclear ambitions despite any words of compromise by European leaders, and now also by America. In fact Biden seems to be taking things one step further by not only ignoring Iranian actions, but also by seeking ways how to appease their leaders who are committed to destroying America.
Israel has repeatedly declared that it will not stand idly by while Iran gets away with the ability to launch a nuclear attack against the country. This rationale is what binds moderate Arab countries with Israel and helped form the Abraham Accords under President Trump.
President Biden, maybe in desperation to gain points before the mid-term elections, seems interested to extend Abraham’s Accord to other Arab countries. That would certainly show him capable of matching Trump’s achievements in foreign policy. In this scenario, brokering a maritime agreement between Lebanon and Israel could be seen as an achievement. So, why the concern?
It has been made public that the potential deal would benefit Lebanon, and especially its Hezbollah faction that has become deeply entrenched within its government. Lebanon’s economic plight has seen desperate bank customers holding up cashiers just to find a way of getting their hard earned savings back, while the country sinks deeper into financial debt. Accordingly, if the deal includes a formula that would give Lebanon almost 100% profit and Israel next to nothing, surely that would entice the country to sit at a table, watching Israel’s demise? Biden could then claim that Hezbollah has agreed to refrain from attacking Israel, while there would be little stopping the terrorist group to play for time as it benefits from the deal. The big question is how does Iran fit into this scenario. The likely answer is that should Hezbollah get its directives from Iran, and then obviously there must be some hidden sweetener for Iran itself, especially while it goads the west into finding a formula that would allow it to play nice.
The American government has been openly pushing Israel to accept an as yet undefined maritime deal that could see the country lose much of its valuable off shore energy resources in return for a dubious promise of peace? The timing of this fiasco comes at a time when Israel has no properly accepted leader, and stands on the threshold of new elections to gain a stable leadership. The details of this maritime deal, once fully transparent, may actually be in everyone’s best interests. But why does it require such a rush to be actualized? The answer to that thorny question may be found in who has most to politically gain from it going through in a hurry. As America is leaning heavily on Israel to accept it immediately, then it stands to reason that Biden’s administration has much to gain. Furthermore, it is not beyond the realm of logic to suggest that Israel’s care taker Lapid could also bask in Biden’s glory and see a possible path to becoming the next elected PM of Israel.
In summary, as we now better see where the treacherous rocks lie just below the surface, there is an obvious course of action to take. I skippered a small yacht during Cyclone Bola (a cyclone is also known as a hurricane) and remember a valuable lesson. Sometimes its better to remain out at sea rather than rush headlong onto the rocks while the storm is upon us. I’m not sure who’s actually at the helm of America at present, but for the sake of a wonderful American nation that should be blessed, and our tiny country of Israel that could be in a position to extend blessings, let’s take our bearings while we can!