President Biden has dropped out of the presidential race and endorsed Kamala Harris. He may be forced to resign before his term ends. The Democratic Party is scrambling to figure out a way to not only create a winning ticket, but to make sure that the nominee is on every state ballot. Our nation is in turmoil, and it isn’t clear who is really steering the ship. The U.S. is in a mess.
But how does this affect the Middle East, where Israel is at war on seven fronts; Iran is supposedly only weeks away from having nuclear capabilities; the Houthis are attacking wherever they can; and Hamas is still holding hostages, including at least five Americans? And to top it all off, Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu is scheduled to speak this week before a joint session of Congress, and to meet with the president and vice president. A weak lame duck and an incompetent who may or may not even be a candidate for the next presidential election.
The Middle East has for decades been the most dangerous and complicated region on the planet, for a few simple reasons. Many of the countries are controlled by passionate extremists who believe that death for their cause leads them to heaven. There is little room to ever create peace between Israel and her neighbors as long as terrorist organizations that are part of the Muslim Brotherhood (such as Hamas, Hezbollah, and the Palestinian Authority) have any political power, as they are committed to the destruction of Israel and the genocide of the Jewish people.
But what has always made the region most primed to blossom from local wars to world war, God forbid, is the unique religious climate.
In the extremist versions of Islam that rule most of the countries in the region, there is the Islamic legal concept of waqf. Without going into all the nuances of this religious concept, one of its manifestations is that whatever land has once been dedicated to Allah it is always dedicated to Allah. On a practical level, this means that for those who believe in this religious practice, Israel, which had once been conquered by Moslems, is for all eternity to be an Islamic state under Sharia law. There is no interest in any “two state solution” from these people, who have repeatedly said that they will do more acts like the heinous ones of Oct. 7 at every opportunity. So on one side, we have Moslems committed to the destruction of Israel and to never having peaceful relations with Israel.
On the other hand, Jews, especially those living in Israel, are committed to “never again.” This statement is a vow that Jews will never walk to their own destruction again as they did to the gas chambers “Never again” means that Jews will fight with every means possible before allowing themselves to be killed. It is this determination that led the United States to get actively involved in the Yom Kippur War of 1973. Israel was waiting for much needed support from the U.S., and it was slow in coming. Supposedly, Prime Minister Golda Meir informed U.S. Sec. of State Henry Kissinger of the Samson Option: the plan that Israel would use nuclear weapons rather than allow herself to be destroyed. This led to rapid U.S. support. Israel, which has had nuclear capabilities for decades, will destroy the region before going softly into the night and fog of another Holocaust. While Israel has restrained herself and not just transformed Gaza into a mass of ash and destruction; the world needs to be clear that Israel will always defend herself in any way necessary. For Israel, the Samson Option is one of last resort, but always on the table.
Add to this mix that according to Secretary of State Antony Blinken, Iran is only a week or two from being able to produce nuclear weapons, and it becomes clear that there is a realistic potential for a nuclear war that could, God forbid, draw in the whole world.
This potential has existed for over five decades. But it had been curtailed only by two things: Israel’s committed desire to live peacefully with her neighbors; and the power of a calm and strong United States.
Over these last decades, the overwhelming power and leadership of the United States has kept the region in check. Under President Trump’s strong leadership, the Abraham Accords were negotiated, and wiser Arab leaders were empowered to strive towards a peaceful region. But with Biden’s obvious weakness even in the days immediately after his inauguration, the peace that was developing under Trump morphed into a lack of leadership. Trump’s commitment to peace was transformed by Biden into support of the extremist Islamic regime of Iran as he released 16 billion dollars to Iran. Under the strength of a United States led by President Trump, there was peace in the region. Under the weakness of the United States under Biden, Iran was refinanced and is on the verge of nuclear weapons; Islamic extremists seized power; and the world experienced the atrocities and evil of these extremists on Oct. 7 (which would never have happened under a Trump administration).
Peace has been kept and a nuclear war avoided for decades through the strength of the U.S. Biden’s weakness allowed Iran to become powerful, and for the attacks of Hamas, Hezbollah, the Houthis, and other Iran surrogates to take place… leading to a much more dangerous region that could drag the world into an apocalypse, God forbid.
And now, the United States is even weaker and less respected than it was for the first three years of Biden’s term. With Biden dropping out and possibly not finishing his term, it is clear that there is no clear commander at the helm of our nation. There are no American shackles holding back the Islamic extremists, and the dangers of conflict in the region have just exponentially increased.
Into this chaos comes Benjamin Netanyahu, a man committed to the survival of Israel and to a lasting partnership with the United States to keep the Samson Option off the table.
But there is no one for him to speak with. No one who can lead the United States at this time back to its place as a world leader that can maintain a semblance of reason in the craziness of the region’s politics and religious fanaticism. Congress is in chaos, with the extreme leftists like Bernie Sanders and AOC intent on either boycotting Netanyahu’s speech or protesting it from within the congressional chambers. Biden is now fully revealed as an incompetent who has no authority or power. Harris is without any understanding of the dynamics of the region and is so nervous about losing votes in Michigan that her husband is now leading a program to “fight Islamophobia.” She has repeatedly demonstrated throughout her career that she is more concerned with getting elected than she is with governance; and is thoroughly inept especially with regard to foreign policy.
So who can Netanyahu even convince to guide the United States back into its role as the peacekeeper of the Middle East?
There is no one at the helm, and both Israel and Iran know it. Knowing this, Netanyahu will undoubtedly try to make his speech to Congress become one of an appeal to the American people, but how many people will actually even take the time to really listen to his words? Is there really anything he can say that will bring America back to a position of leadership as a power that can create peace in the Middle East?
The sad answer is that with Biden’s withdrawal the world is closer to a world war starting in the Middle East than it has even been in my lifetime. Had he dropped out a year ago, a strong Democratic candidate would be the nominee. Netanyahu would have met with both that candidate as well as Trump and Biden (out of courtesy). But with this action of Biden’s, months too late, Netanyahu and the world know that the United States truly has no one in charge.
It is a scarier world today, especially in Israel and the region, than it was before Biden’s action. But there is a hope…
Whether you love or hate Donald Trump, everyone (including Trump himself) recognizes that Trump is only alive because of the grace of God. A difference of one microsecond or one inch, and that bullet would have been a kill shot. God does intervene when needed.
We must choose to have faith that God will continue to intervene by keeping the Middle East from becoming a lit powder keg that consumes the world with war. Without real leadership in the United States, we must pray that God will use other means to keep the region from sparking a flame of war that engulfs the planet.
…and we must be active in getting Trump back in office so that America once again has a leader who brings peace and prosperity to the world.
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