Neocon: Hamas’ Bodyguard of Liars
Israel’s ground campaign “will put Gazan hospitals at the center of attention” since “Hamas uses some of them, such as Al Shifa, as major command centers,” notes Commentary’s Seth Mandel. “Media, NGOs, and politicians will call for Israel to resupply hospital compounds, especially with fuel. This essentially means there will be public pressure to pause hostilities in order to supply Hamas’s military command centers and bases while Israel is attempting to subdue them. These calls are disingenuous and the people making them often know that.” Yet “Gaza, in fact, isn’t running out of fuel. Gazans are,” as Hamas has stockpiled enough to last it at least three months. “This is a recipe for a humanitarian crisis created by Hamas.” And “Hamas will simply let its people die.” But “despite knowing all this, media and activists and politicians will blame Israel.”
From the left: Antisemitism Soars on Campus
“There has been enough silence and enough tolerance of antisemitism on college campuses,” fumes Erwin Chemerinsky at the Los Angeles Times. “On college campuses now, some of the loudest voices” are “calling for an end to Israel.” And, yes, “calling for the total elimination of Israel is antisemitic.” “I — and I hope all of us — mourn the loss of life in Israel and in Gaza. . . But it is simply wrong to confuse condemning antisemitism with ignoring the plight of the Palestinians.” “Students have the right to say very offensive and even hateful things, but school administrators . . . have free speech rights too. They must exercise them and take a stand even if it will offend some and subject them to criticism.”
Eye on ’24: Biden’s Primary Blunder
“By scrapping Iowa, demoting New Hampshire from its first-in-the-nation perch and moving up South Carolina to begin the balloting, President Joe Biden was hoping to preempt a nuisance primary challenge that could embarrass him before the general election. But that may be precisely what he has invited upon himself,” argues Jonathan Martin at Politico. “New Hampshire has unsurprisingly refused to cede its cherished role” — and “Biden should have known as much” would happen.” Now, Rep. Dean Phillips (D-Minn.) has stepped up as a primary challenger on the state’s ballot. And “Phillips’ mere presence in the race presents a dilemma for Biden in a contest he was attempting to marginalize.” “The only answer”? Per one Granite state political vet, Biden’s “got to win now.”
Conservative: Joe’s Polls Hit Hillary Territory
The next presidential race stands to be “a rehash” of 2016’s, though “without Hillary,” contends J.T. Young at the Washington Examiner. Polling shows President Biden trailing Donald Trump in four of the five key swing states that he won in 2020 but Hillary Clinton lost in 2016. “In effect, Biden has “‘Hillary’ed’ himself,” rendering “himself one of the most unpopular Democratic politicians” ever via “a litany of failures” on the economy, federal spending, deficits, foreign policy, the border, schools, crime, environmental policy and “the radicalization of America’s government.” He’s created a “government of the Left, by the Left, and for the Left” at everyone else’s “expense.” Can Biden “undo the damage”? “Hillary could not.”
Albany watch: DeRosa’s COVID Memory Hole
Instead of assessing the pros and cons of New York’s COVID response, the new memoir from once-top-Andrew-Cuomo aide Melissa DeRosa’s simply “repeats familiar talking points — many of which are demonstrably false or misleading — and further clouds the historic record,” laments the Empire Center’s Bill Hammond. E.g., she defends “the state’s notorious directive to nursing homes,” compelling them to readmit “infected patients during the deadliest period of the first wave” — thus missing “an opportunity to trace the history of the policy” and set the record straight. “DeRosa also defends the state’s deceptive reporting of nursing homes deaths” — that only counted deaths in nursing homes and “omitted those who died after being transferred to hospitals.” “If New Yorkers hope to be better prepared for the next deadly virus, DeRosa’s distorted and self-serving account cannot be the last word.”
— Compiled by The Post Editorial Board
Source link: https://nypost.com/2023/10/30/opinion/hamas-bodyguard-of-liars-joes-polls-hit-hillary-territory-and-other-commentary/