Biden’s Iran Policy Blamed For Hamas Attack On Israel
Hamas’ attack on Israel has reignited the US Republicans’ charge on the White House.
Hamas’ attack on Israel has reignited the US Republicans’ charge on the White House.
As the casualties soar and the US ‘adversaries’ smirk, critics of the Biden administration boil in anger and disgust.
“Nine Americans are dead, an unknown number are missing or held hostage, yet President Biden is nowhere to be seen and has nothing to say,” Senator Tom Cotton wrote on X. “He’s totally overmatched by events and paralyzed in a crisis, partly because his own foolish appeasement of Iran fueled a campaign of terror.”
Not surprisingly, Biden’s Iran policy is a common attack line.
The administration’s secret talks in search of an informal nuclear deal with the Iranian regime was never popular in Washington. Releasing $6 billion of frozen assets as part of the ‘prisoner swap’ was even less popular. And hiring someone with deep, longstanding ties with Tehran for a senior role in the Pentagon was almost universally disapproved.
But then came the unprecedented attack on Israel from a group supported by Iran, which took everything to the next level. More than 900 Israelis have been killed in the attacks.
“The Saturday attack was really an Iranian attack on Israel, using Hamas as a surrogate,” opined John Bolton on X. “The Biden Administration should get a spine and pin the blame on Tehran where it belongs.”
John Bolton is no friend of the ayatollahs, of course. He has been pushing for regime change in Iran for two decades at least. But this time his calls may find more willing ears than ever.
There’s no clear evidence that the Iranian regime had a direct role in the attacks on Israel. This is the official line –from both Tehran and Washington. But it seems to have convinced no one.
“The Biden administration hasn’t acknowledged Iran’s involvement in Hamas’s terrorism because it would be an indictment of the administration’s disastrous concessions to Iran,” Senator Cotton again.
And Mike Pompeo, former Secretary of State, whom the Islamic Republic reportedly wanted to assassinate: “Make no mistake: this is at its core about historic efforts by Iran to wipe Israel off the face of the earth.”
Pompeo’s remarks could’ve been shrugged off as personal vendetta, had it not been echoed by the Supreme Leader of the Islamic Republic himself.
“God willing,” he was quoted on his official X account, “the cancer of the usurper Zionist regime will be eradicated at the hands of the Palestinian people and the Resistance forces throughout the region.”
Some believe the Iranian regime is hoping for another US military entanglement in the Middle East. One involving others, of course. It’s a smart plan. But any miscalculation could prove costly.
As Israeli forces gear up for what seems to be a large-scale ground operation in Gaza, the US is dispatching aircraft carriers to the region.
The Biden administration does not seem to be looking for military confrontation with Iran. But he may have to do something meaningful to fight off the constant accusations of ‘appeasement’ in an election year.
In the past few weeks, the ‘Iran influence scandal’ has further eroded Biden’s shaky approval rates. His administration has done little to address concerns about the US Iran Envoy, Robert Malley, whose security clearance has been taken away while the FBI investigates his ‘handling’ of classified information.
The Republicans see Malley as a promising pressure point. They have been pushing it for a few months now, and they are likely to push it harder after the attack on Israel.
“Biden’s Special Envoy Rob Malley hired and placed Iranian assets in government positions with access to classified information,” wrote Rep. Claudia Tenney on X, “Congress must investigate whether any classified information provided by these Iranian assets was used in planning this horrific invasion of Israel.”
However, the ordinary citizens swiftly made it evident that they were not inclined to accept the regime's rhetoric. The public promptly ridiculed the government's poorly constructed celebration of Hamas's "victory" just hours after the attacks commenced. Many took to social media to question the government, asking, "Are you celebrating hundreds of lives lost on both sides?"
On the third day, a poorly assembled piece of disinformation on the state TV's news channel, IRINN, backfired. Many Iranians quickly pointed out that the footage shown in the Monday morning news bulletin, depicting Hamas militants supposedly taking Israeli army generals hostage, was actually from the conflict in Nagorno Karabakh two weeks prior, during which Azerbaijani commandos were apprehending local Armenian officials.
Sunday afternoon in a stadium in Tehran, tens of thousands reacted to the government's propaganda by telling in explicit rude terms where to shove hundreds of Palestinian flags that were hoisted around the stadium.
Some observers noted that the change from polite slogans in the past about "Neither Gaza nor Lebanon" to this new sexually explicit slogan was the outcome of the Iranian government's refusal to listen to what the people want.
Off the beaten track of state-run propaganda, in an article on a slightly independent website, reformist figure Azar Mansoori tried to explain "Why Iranians no longer support the Palestinian resistance." She pointed out that 45 years of government propaganda promoting the "resistance" has confined support for Palestinian movements to a few state-owned media outlets. She argued that the fervent pro-Palestinian rhetoric has waned due to the government's double standards.
Mansoori argued that while the government constantly lent political and material support to the Palestinian groups, it ignored the repression of Muslims in other parts of the world.
By material support, she meant billions of dollars Iran has given to groups such as Hezbollah, Hamas and Islamic Jihad. And by “elsewhere in the world,” she meant China in particular.
However, due to the intense censorship in Iran, Mansoori couldn't explicitly state that Iranians are deeply frustrated with their government for allocating funds that should have been used for their welfare to Palestinian groups recognized internationally as terrorists.
Meanwhile in an article on Etemad Online, reformist commentator Abbas Abdi cautiously warned the government to avoid premature decisions as "Israel and Hamas are not the only players in this war and no one knows what the future holds for them" and for Iran. "It is like a coin tossed in the air and it could flip in many ways before it finally lands."
Speaking about the gruesome nature of some of the pictures released from the first day of the attack about the way Hamas treated hostages, particularly women and children, Abdi suggested that it should have respected the rules of war, adding that Hamas's behavior could portray an image of the group that elicits hatred. He added that Israel's behavior over the years has triggered the same kind of reaction.
Abdi, who is one of a handful of reformist commentators allowed to write in the media, added that the problem of Palestine cannot be solved by use of force and a sustainable agreement is needed to end the conflict.
He also expressed the view that the attitude projected by Iran regarding the war, which includes endorsing the mistreatment of hostages and those who have been killed, or encouraging such behavior, is more detrimental to Iran than any actual war. Abdi recommended that Iranian officials' rhetoric should encompass a combination of ethical and humanitarian principles alongside national interests.