One of the strangest things to happen recently in American foreign policy was President Biden suggesting that the Israelis should not go into the city of Rafah. And the fact he said it would be a red line if they were to go in the city. Now, later, he kind of regrouped, withdrew that and said, well, the red line didn’t really mean a red line. But it was an odd comment, because if the goal of the Israelis, after the horrors of October the seventh and the people who were raped, killed, tortured, 40 babies who were beheaded, if the goal of the Israelis after that horrible day was to destroy Hamas, then you can’t create a sanctuary city. And yet, that’s what President Biden was suggesting, that somehow, as long as Hamas could be in Rafah, it could survive. The Israeli position has been very clear from day one, that this was finally an event so horrifying, that they could never again risk it happening. And they were going to methodically destroy the entire organization, all of the military forces of Hamas and all of their assets. That’s why they’ve been methodically going through what is turning out to be 300 miles of underground, basically the equivalent of the London subway system. That was, by the way, all concrete that was supposed to be going for humanitarian purposes, to build hospitals, churches, public housing, but instead was being stolen by Hamas to build underground tunnels. And the Israelis have been very methodically going after this.

There have been a substantial number of civilian casualties. And the reason is simple. Two things, one, anytime you have urban warfare, there are substantial civilian casualties. In fact, the American record in Afghanistan, Syria and Iraq is substantially worse than the Israelis. The Israelis have gone to great lengths with modern technology to minimize civilian casualties. But second, Hamas, as a policy, has deliberately put civilians at risk, deliberately hidden behind civilians, and deliberately wanted to increase the number of civilian casualties so they could then arouse worldwide opinion against Israel.

The fact is, violence could stop this evening. Hamas could surrender. They could give up the hostages, they could pledge to never again attack Israel. And yet, every time people talk about any kind of truce, the first principle of Hamas is it has to be temporary, because we reserve the right to resume the war. And remember, Hamas’ position is that not a single Jew will remain. In fact, they produce maps on which Israel does not exist. And it gives you some sense of the depth of their determination.

I thought it was very strange that the President took that position. I thought it was comical that he was overheard in a live mic right after the State of the Union telling Democratic Senator Bennett from Colorado that he was going to have a come to Jesus moment with Netanyahu, because Netanyahu is the leader of a Jewish state, [it] struck me, you might have [a] come to Moses meeting, or a come to Abraham meeting, probably it wouldn’t be as productive to have a come to Jesus meeting. And [it] just kind of showed you that Good Old Joe isn’t always quite with it. But this is a serious issue that involves life and death. And it’s going to continue, I think, another three or four months.