(Washington Free Beacon) Andrew Tobin - Israeli reserve soldiers told the Washington Free Beacon that Biden's diplomacy is actually dragging out the Gaza war he is pressing Israel to bring to an end. By restraining Israel, they said, Biden is preventing the Jewish state from defeating or deterring its genocidal enemies. "We're here doing the job, so let us finish the job. Otherwise, it will be like this until the end of time," said Emil Grishpun, 40, an infantry reservist. "What we need to do is come to a conclusion quickly, but we need to come to a positive conclusion for us so we don't face the same thing a decade from now," said Etay Inbar, 34, a military intelligence reservist. Israelis are overwhelmingly grateful for U.S. military and diplomatic support. But more than eight months into the Gaza war, IDF reservists' frustration with the Biden administration reflects growing awareness in Israel of a conflict between Washington's imagined Middle East and the brutal reality. Shilo Marom, 33, in a reserve tank unit that spearheaded the IDF incursion into the Hamas stronghold of Khan Yunis, said, "The people of Israel want to defeat Hamas, want to bring back the hostages, and want to go all in. But for some reason we're dragging our feet in the sand in Gaza. The only explanation I have is that Biden is holding us back." Kobi Michael, a former head of Palestinian affairs at Israel's Ministry of Strategic Affairs, now a researcher at the Institute for National Security Studies in Tel Aviv, said the Americans "are normalizing Hamas and keeping Hamas as the sovereign power in Gaza. This will give encouragement to the Iranian axis and create huge challenges for Israel on all the other fronts." Michael argued that no Israeli leader could leave Hamas in control of Gaza. U.S. pressure "doesn't mean Israel won't successfully end the war in Gaza, but it means the war will be much more complicated and difficult."
2024-06-13 00:00:00Full ArticleBACK Visit the Daily Alert Archive