Last week, I wrote that the world needs U.S. leadership more than ever.  This has now become urgent!  What should the U.S. do with respect to the Israel/Hamas conflict?  Writing in the Wall Street Journal, Richard Haass says that the goal for U.S. diplomacy with Israel should be to achieve “first calm, then peace.”

In more detail:

• First, punish Hamas for the October 7 attacks and limit its ability to carry out additional terrorism. The proper role of the U.S. is not to try to prevent a significant military action, which is inevitable, but to shape its scale and duration. Israel needs to minimize civilian casualties by limiting military actions to precision strikes.  Furthermore, get as many hostages out of Gaza as quickly as possible.  In addition, Israel should not try to occupy Gaza.

  

• Secondly, once the situation is stabilized, begin a renewed effort to normalize ties between Israel and Saudi Arabia and between Israel and those Palestinians willing to eschew terrorism. Bringing about a degree of calm and stability would make it possible to deal with core Israeli-Palestinian issues, which must be resolved if what happened this month is not to occur again and again.  Hamas would play no role in negotiations about the Palestinian future.  The focus should be on developing a Palestinian partner in the West Bank, one willing to renounce violence, live alongside Israel, and hopefully eventually lead to a viable state.
• Saudi Arabia is an important potential partner in this endeavor. The Saudi leadership is interested in obtaining a civilian nuclear energy program from the U.S., as well as a Senate-approved security pact.  The Saudis could demand restraint on settlements and greater interim Palestinian self-governance.

  

• Deterrence of Iran is also required.  America’s core problem in the Middle East is the march of an unappeasable Iran toward regional power, regardless of moral or human cost.  The U.S. is losing its power to deter.  Putin’s 2022 invasion of Ukraine, in defiance of direct American warnings, was a major step.  Iran’s support for Hamas’s strike on Israel is an even bolder attack on the American order.  If the President’s response to Hamas and its patron, Iran, fails to restore respect for American power, and will, our enemies everywhere will draw conclusions and take steps that we and our allies won’t like.

Conclusion.  President Biden has a huge challenge as well as a unique opportunity to assert American leadership.  His response to the Hamas terrorist attack on Israel must, simultaneously, support Israel’s right to respond forcefully, restrain Israel from over-retaliating, and clearly deter Iran from further destabilizing the explosive situation that now exists.  This is a critical test of his ability to lead the free world against our autocratic rivals.

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