Biden Faces an Iran Reckoning
President Biden on Tuesday showed appropriate outrage at the wanton slaughter by Hamas this weekend, and his pledge of support for Israel is welcome. But there was a crucial word missing from his remarks at the White House: Iran. Tehran is Hamas’s terror master, and its assault on Israel exposes the failure of his Iran strategy.
The Journal has reported that Iran gave the approval for Hamas’s bloody assault at an Oct. 2 meeting in Beirut. Iran’s Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei has denied it, and the U.S.
is saying it has no “specific evidence" of Iran’s assent. But Iran has long been the chief benefactor of Hamas and Islamic Jihad in Gaza, as well as Hezbollah in Lebanon and Shiite militias in Iraq and Yemen. All have praised the Hamas assault, as has Mr.
Khamenei. This is what Iran sends Hamas guns and money to do. Hamas killed at least 22 Americans in the attack at last count, and others are now captives.
Mr. Biden has a duty to get them home and avenge those deaths. It’s implausible that Hamas would have struck without Iran’s approval, knowing Israel’s response would be devastating.
One question is whether the massacres were part of a deliberate strategy to court such a response. An Israeli ground assault could be the excuse for Hezbollah to open a second front in Israel’s north. Hezbollah receives an estimated $700 million a year from Iran, and its missile stockpile runs to 100,000 or more with greater accuracy than rockets fired from Gaza.
They could target most of Israel. A Hezbollah attack would also require Iran’s approval. Mr.
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