War Maneuvers in the Middle East
As Iran prepares an attack on Israel, Hamas rejects compromise.
By The Editorial Board
The Nimitz-class aircraft carrier USS Abraham Lincoln. Photo: will tyndall/Agence France-Presse/Getty ImagesThe Pentagon is sending more naval and air assets to the Middle East, and Israel is on high alert, as Iran positions its military for a potential attack on the Jewish state.
Meanwhile, Hamas announced Sunday that it has no interest in the U.S.-brokered “final round of negotiations” for a Gaza cease-fire.
The Pentagon said it is sending a missile submarine to the Mediterranean, while also urging the USS Abraham Lincoln carrier group to speed its way to the region.
The USS Theodore Roosevelt is already in the area.
This is a formidable force, clearly intended to deter Iran from striking Israel or at least minimize the damage in Israel if Tehran goes ahead.
The U.S. also wants to limit the damage so it can persuade Israel not to strike back with force and keep diplomacy going.
But the diplomacy isn’t going so well.
After days of U.S. warnings that Israel had better cut a deal, Hamas pulled the rug out from under President Biden on the talks.
Then on Monday Hamas said its guards killed one hostage and seriously wounded two others it had taken on Oct. 7, without explanation.
Hamas wants more war, not a cease-fire.
In announcing a negotiating summit, scheduled for Thursday, President Biden had released a joint statement with the leaders of Egypt and Qatar.
“No more time should be wasted, and there should be no excuses by any party for further postponement,” they wrote.
The White House sees a deal as its best way to buy peace through the U.S. election and perhaps deter a larger war.
How strong such a deal would leave Hamas and the rest of the Iranian axis for the future isn’t a White House priority.
But that is understandably Israel’s main concern.
Vice President Kamala Harris echoed the Administration’s urgency for a deal on the campaign trail, and leaks from “senior officials” in the U.S. and Israel indicate that the Biden Administration is willing to blame Israel if a deal fails to materialize.
That’s what Hamas likes to hear.
When Mr. Biden presses Israel, Hamas has a habit of introducing a setback.
Recall that after the President made a major address on May 31 to reveal an Israeli framework for a deal, locking in Israel to specific terms, Hamas rejected it with a wild counteroffer.
Only later, as Israel closed in on Hamas leaders, did the terrorists blink and consent to the framework.
Now Hamas resists Israeli interpretations of some of the terms, including whether Israel can remain in the section of Gaza on the Egyptian border to block the terrorists from rearming.
A State Department spokesman said Monday that talks are still expected to go forward, despite Hamas’s rejection.
Hamas could show up, having turned mere attendance into a concession.
Senior Israeli officials see Iran behind Hamas’s move because Iran may not want talks to pre-empt the attack it appears to be cooking up for Israel.
Perhaps only after an Iranian attack will Hamas discover some flexibility to offer concessions, hoping to persuade Israel not to answer Iran with its own forceful retaliation.
We’ll soon learn how Iran views all of this mixed U.S. messaging of begging for more diplomacy while hoping to deter war.
But the enemy gets a vote, and Iran’s proxies will take orders from Tehran.
Israelis have a clearer idea of what works in this bad neighborhood.
“Give us the tools faster, and we’ll finish the job faster,” Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu told Congress in July, referring to Hamas.
But how about speeding up munitions and transferring bunker-busting bombs as well?
That ordnance, which can put Iran’s nuclear facilities at risk, would get Tehran’s attention as much as the other assets steaming to the region.
Iran understands Western strength and resolve, and both are essential to any successful diplomacy.
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