EDITORIAL: Blinken only emboldens Hamas terrorists

President Joe Biden must stop trying to appease Hamas sympathizers inside the White House and Democratic Party and reiterate America’s steadfast commitment to Israel. Particularly in the wake of his secretary of state’s dumbfounding and ill-timed remarks last week regarding the Jewish state.

On Friday, the Times of Israel reported that, when one high-ranking Israeli official told U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken that Israeli citizens overwhelmingly support the military campaign to eliminate Hamas “even if it takes months,” he responded, “I don’t think you have the credit for that.”

According to the report, Mr. Blinken then went on to scold Israel about potential civilian casualties in southern Gaza.

“You need to evacuate fewer people from their homes, be more accurate in the attacks, not hit U.N. facilities and ensure that there are enough protected areas,” he said. “And if not? Then not to attack where there is a civilian population.”

These comments embolden Hamas terrorists as they regroup after the brief cease-fire, encouraging them to continue to embed themselves among the civilian population and to drag out this conflict. They create doubt about America’s continued support for an ally whose enemies have loudly and publicly declared their desire to wipe Israel from the map. They attempt to draw an equivalency between unfortunate yet inevitable civilian deaths during wartime and the calculated murder of innocents.

What Mr. Biden “won’t acknowledge,” Jonathan S. Tobin wrote last week for Jewish World Review, “is that the push for a cease-fire is not motivated by a desire for peace but implicit support for Hamas’ right to ‘resist’ Israel and thereby pursue its destruction.”

Indeed, Mr. Biden is facing such pressure from within his own White House, which is home to many young Democratic activists fluent in leftist blather about Israel and “settler colonialism.” It’s no coincidence that Mr. Blinken’s lecture for Israel came as The New York Times reports that Mr. Biden “is facing deep anger” over his support for Israel among many Democrats “and even from some staff members who have said they feel disenchanted with the president.”

As the temporary truce evaporated last week, Israeli officials pledged to allow more humanitarian aid into Gaza, including food, water, fuel and medicine. They again dropped leaflets in populated areas, urging Palestinian civilians to evacuate. They presented Mr. Blinken, CNN reported, with maps designated safe zones for innocents.

Hamas terrorists, meanwhile, reiterate their intention to murder and attack innocent Israelis at every opportunity.

The contrast couldn’t be more clear.

Israel doesn’t need any “credit” from the United States to defend itself in the wake of barbaric terror attacks that left 1,400 of its citizens dead. “There is no way we are not going back to fighting until the end,” Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said last week. “This is my policy, the entire Cabinet stands behind it, the entire government stands behind it, the soldiers stand behind it, the people stand behind it.”

The proper message for Mr. Biden and Mr. Blinken to convey is that the United States stands behind it, too.