Thank goodness Israel invaded Rafah

Biden said "don't". But this week, dead hostages were found there

A smuggling tunnel in Rafah (picture: Marius Arnesen)

When it was confirmed that six Israeli hostages had been found dead in Gaza, President Biden released a statement. It began like this:

“Earlier today, in a tunnel under the city of Rafah, Israeli forces recovered six bodies of hostages held by Hamas… One of the hostages killed by these vicious Hamas terrorists was an American citizen, Hersh Goldberg-Polin. I am devastated and outraged…”

Wait a minute. Did he just say “in a tunnel under the city of Rafah?” Yes he did. Was this the very same Rafah that Biden tried his best to protect from an IDF assault? Yes it was. If that wasn’t the reason why the President was “devastated and outraged,” it jolly well should have been.

Memories are short, so let’s recap. For several months, with Hamas largely routed from central Gaza and taking refuge in Rafah, American strongarm tactics prevented Israel from pursuing them into the town and destroying them. Would the hostages have been saved if the IDF had not been forced to pause?

Cast your mind back. The pressure was intense. Every day, we were pounded by grotesque claims about the “humanitarian catastrophe” that would befall that benighted town if the IDF went in. A social media campaign called “all eyes on Rafah” was shared more than 50 million times. (That’s more than ten times the population of Israel.)

Kamala Harris – who may become the next leader of the free world come November – waxed lyrical to CNN about her grave concerns for the 1.4 million civilians sheltering there. “I have studied the maps,” she informed ABC in an interview in March. “There’s nowhere for those [civilian] folks to go.” On the phone to Benjamin Netanyahu, President Biden issued his trademark instruction: “Don’t.”