FOX news devoted much of its Saturday broadcast time to Hamas, and to speculation about whether the war in Gaza will become Obama’s first foreign policy test.
The answer is it will be if Obama declares it so. It will become a foreign policy “crisis” if Obama calls it one.
If he wants a foreign policy test, he should look elsewhere.
Hamas provoked Israel, and Israel is acting the way we would if some terrorist organization were lobbing missiles from Canada into downtown Chicago. Few, except for those who might sympathize with the terrorists, would disapprove of retaliatory strikes. What Hamas is doing to an attempt to drive a wedge between moderate and more extreme elements in the Muslim world. Hamas does not want peace. It wants to destroy any prospect of peace. Like it or not, neither we nor Obama have a seat at the Muslim poker table, and Hamas won’t deal Obama a hand even if he asks for one.
The attacks have all the leading candidates in Israel, which holds elections February 10, issuing appropriately belligerent responses to the missile attacks. If Hamas wants Netanyahu running Israel again, this is an excellent way to make it happen, and surely its leaders know that. Regardless, none of the candidates are going to have much interest in conciliation with Hamas before the elections, and even less interest in hearing Obama say they should.
For Obama, there are domestic considerations. Is he to tell Israel, and several million American Jews, that Israel must put down its arms and allow the shelling to continue in the name of promoting peace? Not a good idea. A truce? If Obama suggests it and Israel rejects it, when then?
Better Obama leave this one to his Secretary of State, and better she have a little chat with the moderates about how to leverage or isolate Hamas. This is also an excellent time for Obama to let Iran know that unconditional talks are now out of the question.
