As Brazil, Spain, Poland and other nations fly their stranded nationals out of war-hit Israel, the Biden administration is once again letting Americans fend for themselves as they did in Afghanistan.

There are about 500,000 there now, 27 have been murdered by Hamas, and about two dozen remain missing. Many, as the State Department has said are dual nationals and may want to stay and fight. But other are clearly candidates for evacuation -- tourists, church groups, the handicapped, medical patients, tech guys, artist types, and others.

According to Politico:

The U.S. government is struggling to locate Americans stranded in Israel — and so far doesn’t seem likely to try to airlift them out, even as Hamas intensifies its attacks, including near Ben Gurion International Airport.

Some foreign airlines are still operating flights, but U.S. carriers have halted service in Israel, with hundreds of flights canceled until at least month’s end. The State Department would not comment on how many U.S. citizens are looking to return stateside given the “fluid situation,” said spokesperson Vedant Patel.

Oh, there's been a snail's pace effort, with ABC News reporting this recent announcement:

The U.S. Embassy said it'll offer transportation for Americans looking to leaving Israel beginning on Friday.

"It will take some period of time to schedule everyone seeking to depart," the embassy said. "Transportation will be by air to Athens or Frankfurt, or sea from Haifa to Cyprus. You will not be able to choose your destination – we will assign you to the next available flight or ship."

What's more, they're likely to have to shell out for those flights at commercial rates, payable within 30 days through a signed promissary note, or the State Department will hire a collection agency to go after them.

That stands in stark contrast to the concierge service the Biden administration is providing to illegals, the foreign nationals of other countries, who, unvetted, are flown into the U.S. through U.S. arrangements, to the U.S. destination of their choice.

According to Todd Bensman, writing at the New York Post last month:

Illegal migrants aren’t just overwhelming the border — President Biden is flying them secretly to airports around the country.

More than 200,000 people from four countries have landed over the past year, according to data obtained by the Center for Immigration Studies through a Freedom of Information Act request.

In January, Biden’s Department of Homeland Security began implementing the cornerstone of its current strategy: a series of new “lawful pathways” measures designed to decrease the historically high crowds at the southern border before they become a political problem.

DHS cajoles tens of thousands of intending illegal border-crossers per month to instead go on the CBP One smartphone application, and make an appointment with US officials at land ports of entry instead of crossing illegally.

After making an appointment, DHS invites these inadmissible aliens to walk over to the American side at the land ports, where US Customs officials quickly “parole” them in, allowing them to travel to a city of their choice in the nation’s interior.

Supposedly, they, too pay commercial rates. But with migrants like these coming from Haiti, Cuba, Venezuela, and other very third-world places where the annual salaries don't break above $1,000, one wonders if such a claim is actually true, even if they have sponsors in the states willing to shell out. Do they, too, sign promissary notes, payable in 30 days, and then skip out on them same as they generally do their immigration hearings, do they pay cash on the barrelhead from the wealth they do have as they seek economic opportunity in the states, or do they get "waivers" for the general poverty of their homelands? The money issue could use a few answers since it's pretty unlikely that migrants from impoverished countries would have cash to pay commercial flight rates and for international flights.

In general, I do think people should be called to pay if the U.S. somehow has to get them out, particularly if they've defied a State Department warning about travel to whatever hellhole they get evacuated out of. It's only right.

The Israel issue, though, was purely a disaster without warning. It's arguable that it happened because Joe Biden forked over $6 billion to Iran's mullah regime, which clearly was complicit in the Hamas attack. Should Americans be held financially responsible for Joe Biden's fecklessness? Wouldn't it serve U.S. interests to get them out of there so that Hamas can't kidnap them and parade them around for the cameras in order to extract concessions from the U.S.? 

 Even if they don't have to pay for these initial outflights, which I am far from sure is the case, they'll still have to figure out how to get home from expensive cities like Frankfurt, and probably pay a for a few nights in expensive hotels.

Illegals flown into the states to the cities of their choice by Biden don't have that problem.

What's wrong with this picture?

Image: Monica Showalter, with use of public domain images