EDITORIAL: Harris-Biden again embolden Iran’s proxy terrorists

On Sunday, U.S. secretaries of defense and state sent a missive to their Israeli counterparts demanding that the Jewish state ensure an increased flow of humanitarian aid to the Gaza Strip within the next month or risk losing American military aid. The letter repeats claims from relief organizations that Israeli checkpoints are slowing deliveries of necessary supplies.

“What we have seen over the past few months,” State Department spokesman Matthew Miller told The New York Times, “is that the level of humanitarian assistance has not been sustained. In fact, it has fallen by over 50 percent from where it was at its peak.”

The warning comes as the United States has openly urged Israel to show restraint when responding to a recent missile barrage from Iran. President Joe Biden has reportedly asked Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu not to target Iranian oil interests or uranium enrichment sites for fear that such an attack “could set off a dramatic escalation of Middle East hostilities,” according to the Times.

This has been the president’s modus operandi since Oct. 7. Assert that Israel has a right to defend itself but pressure its government to turn the other cheek while tacitly implying that the country is responsible for escalating tensions.

And why go public with another “tsk-tsk” for Mr. Netanyahu rather than handle disagreements through back channels? It appears that the administration’s desire to appease the many progressive terror sympathizers within the Democratic Party as an election nears overrides the importance of supporting this country’s most trusted ally in the world’s most volatile region.

In fact, one analyst told the Times that the administration’s threat is an empty one — all for show. “It strains the bounds of credulity to the breaking point,” Aaron David Miller, a former Middle East peace negotiator for the United States, told the paper, “to believe that the administration would act to restrict U.S. military aid to Israel as the Iran-Israel crisis heats up.”

Let’s be clear: There are humanitarian issues in Gaza because the terrorists who govern it opted to conduct a barbaric and depraved attack on Israel, killing 1,200 civilians and necessitating that the Jewish state take action to ensure its survival. Hamas embeds military operations among the civilian population, ensuring innocent deaths that can later be used for propaganda directed at the gullible. It is the height of absurdity for the White House to suggest that Israel is responsible for suffering in Gaza. There is an easy way to end any humanitarian crisis there: The terrorists surrender.

It would be a step forward for Mr. Biden to acknowledge this reality.