As news of the horrific attacks in Israel by Hamas began reaching us on Saturday morning, I wondered how long it would take for the political machines in America to begin making it all about us. The clarity to my wonder came quickly. It was almost immediate.
At 11:03 a.m. on Saturday is when I saw the beginning of how the debate will likely be shaped. This is when 2024 presidential candidate, Nikki Haley, posted this comment: "This is not just an attack on Israel—this was an attack on America." She went on to give her advice to embattled Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu with this: "Finish them."
But wait, former Vice President Mike Pence is still a 2024 presidential candidate too. How could a Hoosier forget? He was actually quicker out of the gate than Haley. At 9:56 a.m. on Saturday, he posted: "This is what happens when (President Joe Biden) projects weakness on the world stage…" Pence was quicker, but his campaign is less relevant than Haley's, but not by much.
Oh yes, the American president, whoever they are and whenever they are in office, is ultimately responsible for whatever happens in this seemingly never-ending conflict. Is there a president whose term featured meaningful peace in the Palestinian-Israeli conflict in the last 50 years? Saturday's attacks come one day after the 50-year anniversary of the start of the Yom Kippur War in 1973.
The violence has ebbed and flowed there since that bloody conflict, but I don't recall there being a resolution, an agreed upon end to the conflict, or even an acknowledgment from either side of the other's right to exist. The winner in this multi-generational conflict has been the conflict itself. The events of the weekend are more catastrophic than any before it. The intelligence failures are immense. But the hostilities between the parties have never waned.
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