JERUSALEM — After President Biden gave his ultimatum to deny offensive weapons to the Jewish state if Israel were to launch an invasion of Rafah, rocket fire rained down on Israel on Friday from Rafah, and more rockets were fired SATURDAY.
Hamas launched rockets from Rafah at the southern Israeli town of Beersheba on Friday for the first time since December, while Iranian proxy Hezbollah sent a barrage of rockets at the town of Kiryat Shmona in northern Israel, causing a massive fire. Four Israeli soldiers were killed in the Gaza Strip on Friday.
“When administration officials attacked or publicly berated Israel previously during the war, Hamas toughened its demands in exchange for the release of the hostages, in effect delaying and minimizing the chances of success in the delicate negotiations,” Jonathan said Conricus at Fox News Digital. Conricus served in the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) for 24 years as a combat commander in Lebanon and the Gaza Strip.
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The aftermath of a barrage of Hezbollah rockets in the town of Kiryat Shmona, in northern Israel, on May 10, 2024. Credit Erez Bar Simon/TPS-IL (Erez Bar Simon/TPS-IL)
“When Israel's enemies detect tensions between the United States and its most trusted and loyal ally in the region, Israel, it encourages them to further attack Israel and continue their tactic of using human shields, because they understand that the United States will ultimately punish Israel for its actions, regardless of the actions of Hamas and Hezbollah.
Conricus, who served as an IDF spokesperson during the Gaza war, added: “In the short term, these US statements will lead to increased violence and fighting, as they embolden Israel's enemies. In the long term, they could push another American country into the Middle East. distance the ally from the American sphere of influence and reinforce the concerns harbored by many American partners about the quality and firmness of American support when it is most needed. »
On Friday, the Israeli military said that “five launches were identified from central Gaza towards the Beersheba area.” Nine additional launches were identified passing through the Rafah area toward the city and fell in open areas, the Israeli military said. (Screenshot: IDF Spokesperson's Unit.) (IDF Spokesperson’s Unit)
Former US Ambassador to Israel during the Trump administration, David Friedman, posted a direct message on city in southern Israel. “Fear of retaliation. Biden has emboldened Hamas!”
Fox News Digital reported that many Israelis view Biden's pause in arms deliveries as a betrayal of his assurance that he is supporting the Jewish state with a promise of “ironclad” security.
Gen. Jack Keane (Ret.) told Fox & Friends on Friday that Biden is “walking away from Israel” and called Biden's decision “staggering.”
The enemies of Israel and America are closely watching Biden's decision to create light between the United States and the only democracy in the Middle East, Israel.
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IDF forces are standing ready in southern Israel, near the border with Gaza, for a possible ground offensive in Rafah, the southernmost city of Gaza, in order to continue fighting Hamas and disbanding its battalions. Southern Israel, May 1, 2024. Photo by Noam Shaar/TPS (Photo by Noam Shaar/TPS)
On Thursday, White House national security communications adviser John Kirby said the United States fully supports Israel. “The arguments that we are moving away from Israel fly in the face of the facts. I mean, this is a president who visited Israel a few days after the October 7 attacks. He comes from a president who hastily sent additional military items to Israel and “Frankly, we provided the expertise of our own military to go there to help them in their thinking about their planning and their operations,” he told reporters at the White House.
Kirby continued: “This is a president who sent American pilots – fighter pilots – into the skies to help shoot down more than 300 missiles and drones fired by Iran in mid-April. Israel, we are not willing to help them defeat Hamas, it just doesn't fit the facts. »
Matthew Levitt, director of the Reinhard Program on Counterterrorism and Intelligence at the Washington Institute, told Fox News Digital: “The default is to work the weapons before the hostages – including American hostages – are released, and after Hamas' bad faith behavior in the negotiations, could embolden both Hamas and Hezbollah. »
Hamas has more than 100 hostages in captivity, including Americans. The terrorist mastermind behind Hamas' massacre of nearly 1,200 people, including more than 30 Americans, Yahya Sinwar allegedly used hostages as human shields to fend off Israeli soldiers seeking to capture him in a tunnel deep in Gaza.
Palestinian Hamas terrorists are seen during a military display in the Bani Suheila district on July 20, 2017, in Gaza City, Gaza. A protester at Stanford University wearing a headband similar to that worn by Hamas members was seen in an image submitted to the FBI. (Chris McGrath/Getty Images)
The State Department did not respond to questions about whether Biden's blockade of offensive weapons against Israel emboldens Hamas and Hezbollah.
On Thursday, spokesman Matthew Miller said: “What the president has made clear is that we are concerned about a possible military operation in Rafah. I don't think it's a secret. “These concerns are quite clear to the Israeli government. And as the president noted, there are certain types of military assistance that we will not make available to Israel for a campaign in Rafah,” he said. Miller.
The Jewish Institute for National Security of America (JINSA) has published a letter from a senior group of retired US military leaders criticizing Biden's arms directive. “Amid rising anti-Semitism in America and around the world, after the greatest single-day loss of innocent Jewish life since the Holocaust, U.S. support for the Jewish state alone should be clear, unwavering and unconditional. The benefits of this partnership for America's people and this important region are numerous and too valuable to abandon.
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President Biden holds a photo of an IDF tank with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu (AP, Getty Images)
The letter adds: “America must support Israel as it restores its security, shattered on October 7, against Iran and its terrorist proxies in Gaza, Lebanon, Syria, Iraq and Yemen, all of whom seek to destroy the Jewish state. enemies of the United States and everything we defend.
“This Iranian-backed terrorist axis, along with other adversaries and allies around the world, is closely watching whether the United States will stand by one of its closest allies fighting in self-defense, even when Things are getting complicated.”
Richard Goldberg, senior advisor at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies and former National Security Council official, warned: “There is no doubt that Iran and Hezbollah will escalate as this illegitimate embargo continues.” . Our common enemies prey on the perception of space between the United States and Israel, and the projection of weakness and despair in both capitals. »
Fox News Digital Press inquiries to the White House, Israel's Foreign Ministry and the prime minister's office were not immediately returned.