Eliot L. Engel was a Bronx congressman, elected in 1988.  He served from 1989 until 2021.  A literal liberal Democrat, he was a reliable supporter of Israel. In his last term, he rose to be chairman of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, 2019 to 2021.  As chairman, he was in a position to contain the rabid anti-Israel ramblings of the new, totalitarian-minded Democrat leftists.

The Wall Street Journal, in a May 18 news report, informed readers that Rep. Gregory W. Meeks, the Democrat who succeeded Mr. Engel as chairman of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, "told Committee Democrats Monday evening (May 17) that we would consider sending a letter to the administration this week urging a delay on the sale of $735 million in weapons to Israel until lawmakers can review the sale, according to two people familiar with the matter."

(The report continued, "Republicans have pressed Mr. Biden to take a more firm stance in defense of Israel.")

Had Mr. Engel not been defeated in a Democrat primary by Mr. J. Bowman, a radical leftist in the mold of Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, Mr. Meeks would not now be chairman of the Foreign Affairs Committee, and there would not no thought, at the time of the attack on Israel form the Gaza-based Hamas, of threatening the target of the Hamas attack with a cut-off in military sales.

In googling Mr. Meeks to learn when he was elected to Congress — in 1998 — the Wikipedia reference to this Queens, N.Y. Democrat revealed that he boycotted the address to a joint session of Congress, given by Israel's Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu, urging Congress not to support the Obama policy of deference to Iran.  Clearly, Mr. Meeks signaled six years ago his willingness to take a hard-line against the Jewish state.

Please consider: what message does Chairman Meeks send to Hamas — and to his president — by putting the brakes on weapons sale to Israel, as she is under vicious assault from Hamas, the terrorist organization that is committed to her destruction?  Only a fool would agree that this is merely an even-handed approach to lower civilian casualties — in Gaza, where Hamas intentionally places civilians in harm's way, hoping civilian deaths will impose pressure on Israel to forgo its right to self-defense and accept ceasefire terms demanded by Hamas, in furtherance of its goal to resume aggression against Israel at a later date, resulting in the demise of the Jewish state.

Let it be made clear: Israel is defending herself to prevent further Jewish civilian deaths that are the intentional aim of the war crimes policies of Hamas.  That Chairman Meeks refuses to recognize this reality must mean, as he is no fool, that he is willing to accept the unending war of Hamas against Israel, until the Israeli government follows the observation of Shylock in The Merchant of Venice — "sufferance is the badge of my tribe."

One can imagine the new chairman of the House Foreign Affairs Committee calling for a slowdown in arms manufacture in World War II America, lest civilians in Germany be killed in bombing missions of the (then) U.S. Army Air Force.

Hamas has made it clear that it will not cease its goal of eradicating the Jewish state by any means necessary.  Gregory Meeks has indicated that he will use the power of his new office to see that Israel's hands are tied behind its back, to absorb Hamas aggression and aggression from all parties intent on terminating the existence of the Jewish state.

The Wall Street Journal May 18 report also quoted Ismail Haniyeh, the "political leader" of Hamas, declaring in a May 17 interview that "[Hamas] would only accept solution that 'rises to the sacrifices put forward by the Palestinian people.'"  The truth is that the irrational enmity of Hamas against Israel has imposed those sacrifices, which will not come to a halt until the unconditional defeat of this terror organization.

The spirit of freedom among the American people at large must unite with the spirit of freedom of the people of Israel to put paid to the anti-Semitic aims of radical anti-Israel sources like Hamas — and those, outside the zone of conflict, who would provide immoral support to the anti-Semites hoping to shred Israel's banner, the Magen Dovid.

Image: NBC News via YouTube.

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