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The U.S. and Israel: Critical Military Aid, but Misguided Diplomacy on Iran

(Wall Street Journal) Walter Russell Mead - Barack Obama's misguided diplomacy made Iran the de facto master of Syria and Lebanon. Israelis detested what they saw as appeasement of a genocidal regime in Tehran. Sunni Arabs abhorred the "Shia Crescent" from Iran to Lebanon that Obama's vision was ready to accept. The Gulf Arabs feared Obama's Middle East so much that they brushed Palestinian objections aside to form strategic partnerships with Israel. After trying and failing to restore Obama's nuclear deal, Team Biden searched for ways to accommodate Iran, relaxing sanctions and trying to engage diplomatically with the mullahs in Tehran. But in the end, Iran's support of Hamas's and Hizbullah's aggression against Israel was too much. After the Iran-backed Hamas terror attack against Israel on Oct. 7, 2023, Team Biden, sometimes reluctantly and with much grumbling, provided Israel with enough weapons to beat Hamas and Hizbullah in ways that shocked Iran and dramatically reduced its power. To use those weapons effectively, Israel had to frustrate U.S. efforts to tie its hands, change its government, and dictate what would have been disastrous changes in war-fighting strategy. The writer, a fellow at the Hudson Institute, is Professor of Foreign Affairs and Humanities at Bard College.
2024-12-24 00:00:00
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