Mike Coté
Providence, Oct. 7, 2024
“The Palestinian population largely supported the Hamas massacre and favor the terrorist group over its rivals. The actions taken by the Palestinian people, their leadership, and their backers abroad since October 7 have shown that there is no peace to be had between the two sides without a sea of change in Palestinian national ideology.”
It’s now been one year since the barbarities of October 7th, 2023. On the anniversary of those attacks, a great deal of ink will be spilled discussing the current state of play, the resilience of Israeli society, the global response to the war, and, of course, the people who were so callously murdered. Just as useful, however, is a discussion of another key takeaway: the many false notions surrounding the conflict that have been thoroughly debunked.
First is the idea that Iran can be counted as a potential partner for a peaceful Middle East. This has been a consistent policy of the American left since the Obama administration dramatically de-emphasized traditional security partnerships with Israel and the Gulf States in favor of trying to work with Tehran. The JCPOA nuclear deal, alongside the massive sanctions relief that came with it, was the centerpiece of this strategy – one that did not alter Iranian behavior for the better, reduce its support for regional terrorism, or forbid it from ballistic missile development. After the Trump administration’s maximum pressure strategy had put Tehran on the back foot, the Biden-Harris team returned to the Obama policy in full. This has proven a disastrous choice.
Iran has never repudiated its genocidal antisemitism or long-held goal of destroying the Jewish State. Instead, it has driven this regional conflict since October 7, activating its Axis of Resistance across seven fronts – Gaza, the West Bank, Syria, Lebanon, Yemen, Iraq, and Iran itself – to attack Israel. It has used its money gained via sanctions relief to fund this assault, as well as using its non-treaty-limited inventory to carry out the largest ballistic missile assault in history. Its proxies have harassed international shipping, launched drone attacks against US embassies, and killed American service members stationed in the region. Clearly, Tehran is no friend to American interests and no partner for peace. The past year has decisively proven that. … [To read the full article, click here]