We were dismayed last Friday when President Trump disclosed that he is pushing Prime Minister Netanyahu to allow more food and medicine into the Gaza Strip. In our view, nothing could be more counterintuitive. Not only are claims of critical shortages highly suspect, but it is also common knowledge that Hamas regularly helps itself to aid shipments to take care of themselves and to raise cash through resales on the black market. Moreover, this lifeline is particularly problematic now that Israel’s military investment in destroying Hamas is clearly producing real fruit and prudence dictates that there not be any slackening in pressure placed on Hamas.
The Times of Israel reports that on the way to Pope Francis’ funeral on Air Force One, President Trump was asked by reporters whether concerns about humanitarian aid for Gaza had come up in his telephone conversation with the Prime Minister earlier in the week.
He said it had come up and that he told Mr. Netanyahu that “those people are suffering. We’ve got to be good to Gaza. We’re going to take care of them. There’s a very big need for… food and medicine. We’re taking care of it.”
Pressed on whether he’s pushing Israel to allow aid into Gaza, Trump responded, “We are.”
Asked how Netanyahu responded to the request Trump said, “Well, he felt well about it.”
The Times of Israel went on to note that this was the first time Trump had publicly weighed in on the issue of humanitarian aid for Gaza, which was a recurrent point of conflict between Netanyahu and the Biden administration.
We would have thought that President Trump would have at least coupled his call on Israel to unilaterally allow the entry of aid into Gaza with a call on Hamas to immediately release all hostages. But he didn’t.
And there were also other examples pointing to a seemingly less than firm resolve to fully exploit this time of particular Hamas debility arising out of the IDF’s utter devastation of Gaza and Hamas.
Thus, as palpable signs of weakness, Hamas just came off its high horse and said it would agree to a 5-year truce, a one-time total hostage release, instead of continuing to insist on a permanent ceasefire and piecemeal releases. It would also agree not to develop weapons or dig tunnels during that time. To be sure, they still will not agree to disarm which is the sine qua non for Israel. But the signs of Hamas pulling in its horns because of its growing vulnerability are plainly, otherwise manifest.
And then there is the recent report in the Wall Street Journal that Israel has so disrupted Hamas’s sources of cash and ability to distribute it that it can’t pay its fighters.
According to the Wall Street Journal, Israel has restricted what comes into Gaza and therefore available to Hamas to sell for cash on the black market. But in the course of its renewed offensive, Israel has also targeted, killed, or sent into hiding Hamas officials who played important roles in distributing cash to cadres.
Yet despite all of this, the President passed up a chance to go for the jugular. And we hope that it is not a harbinger of Trump policy when it comes to Iran, which has also been substantially militarily and economically degraded by the IDF and or the U.S. and who are now extraordinarily vulnerable.
Thus, the IDF – with U.S. help – has devastated Iran’s air defenses and exposed it as a military paper tiger. U.S. economic sanctions have also shattered the Iranian economy to an unprecedented degree. According to the Jerusalem Post, Iranian oil exports have crashed from $2.5 billion barrels per day before sanctions to barely 500,000 barrels daily, while the Iranian currency has hemorrhaged over 80% of its value.
In addition, President Trump has explicitly threatened to attack Iranian nuclear facilities if Iran fails to make a deal giving up its pursuit of a nuclear weapons capacity. In the face of this full court press, Iran backed down from its uncompromising refusal to kowtow to the U.S. and negotiate a nuclear deal and signaled a willingness to make a deal.
But then, inexplicably, despite its obvious advantage, we were treated to the Trump administration’s flip flop on whether Iran would be permitted to pursue a civilian nuclear program. First President Trump’s special envoy to the Middle East, Steve Witkoff, said Iran would be allowed to maintain its nuclear program limited to civilian purposes. Less than 24 hours later, after an ensuing uproar, Witkoff said Iran would have to “stop and eliminate its nuclear enrichment program.”
With all of our side’s leverage, why can’t we just dictate the terms of any nuclear deal? Why can’t we pursue the “Libyan option” no matter what Iran thinks of the idea? Although there are no guarantees that it would be foolproof, the Libyan option calls for the ostensible elimination of any possibility of Tehran ever acquiring a nuclear weapon, in addition to banning uranium enrichment – which could be redirected to weapons production. It also calls for overseeing the destruction of Iran’s nuclear installations and the dismantling of all equipment. As the Algemeiner Journal reports, this is the approach advocated by Prime Minister Netanyahu and would parallel the process by which Libya gave up its nuclear weapons in 1983.
There is compelling evidence that Iran will do all it can to identify and exploit every possible loophole in any agreement it enters into. But even if there are no guarantees, we should take full advantage of our leverage. And if Iran objects, as noted, we’re holding all the cards.
