America must stand by Israel as threat of greater war looms

Prime Minister, Netanyahu, speech to the US Congress was very, very important because it laid down a marker. It reminded Americans that our strongest, tightest ally in the Middle East is Israel. Israel is the only functioning, reliable democracy in the region, we have allies who are authoritarian, Egypt, for example, Jordan, Saudi Arabia, but none of them are open and free societies. Israel really is, despite all the tension, despite all the conflict, and Israeli Arabs overwhelmingly prefer to live in Israel rather than in the Palestinian territories. So Israel is a remarkable place. Netanyahu came to the United States at a time of extraordinary danger. On the one hand, they’re still finishing up their war with Hamas, caused by the brutal October 7 attack which 12 150 people were killed, and another 250 were taken hostage. That is gradually grinding down, but at the same time, a war with Hezbollah in the north is really heated up dramatically. Hezbollah is a Iranian funded terrorist group much bigger than Hamas, much better armed than Hamas, and they have taken advantage of Israel’s focus on the south to create a very complicated battlefield in the north. And the Israelis have actually evacuated about 60,000 people from the area close to the border, which has now led to considerable unhappiness from those folks because they want to go back home, and it’s still very dangerous to do so. And so we don’t know yet whether or not this will lead to not bigger war, but Hezbollah is much, much bigger than Hamas, and it would be a much more violent war, one that the Israelis would almost certainly win, but at very considerable cost. Meanwhile, Netanyahu has to deal with the fact that for the very first time, the Houthis, the terrorist group in Yemen, have fired drones at Tel Aviv and have actually taken Israel head on. Earlier, the Houthis were a pain in the neck and they were going after shipping in the Red Sea, but now they’re beginning to sort of go after Israel. And the Israelis, for the very first time, went to Yemen and bombed a major port to send a signal to the Houthis that they can’t keep doing that. I think that Netanyahu visit was at a pivotal moment. I do think it’s important to remember that our fate in Israel’s are very deeply tied together. When the Iranians chant Death to America, they also chant Death to Israel. The desire to wipe out Christians and Jews, the Hamas position, that not a single Jew will remain is, in fact, a direct threat to America and our belief in a free society. So I was glad to see Bibi. He’s an old friend. I’ve known him now for, gosh, almost 40 years, but he faces big, big challenges, and we need to stand shoulder to shoulder with him to make sure that we defeat the enemies of freedom. You.