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Those on “both sides” of the conflict shared their thoughts with the South Shore Press on how former President Nixon deserves credit for brokering peace and maintaining stability, and how President Biden managed to alienate and anger Israelis and Palestinians.
The South Shore Press analyzed how two different Presidents in two different times managed wars in the Middle East.
YOM KIPPUR WAR
October 6th, 1973. Syria and Egypt launched a surprise attack on Israel. Their combined mission: reclaim land they believed was lost during the Six Day War.
Israel was on the ropes. Arab nations backed by the Soviets were closing in. That is when President Nixon ordered Secretary of State Henry Kissinger to authorize an emergency airlift of supplies. These American reinforcements gave Israel the necessary replenishments to beat back opposing forces across the Suez Canal.
President Nixon immediately ordered our national defense to DEFCON-3 when the Soviets threatened to send troops. Soviet premier Alexei Kosygin blinked. The Russians stood down. Nixon negotiated peace agreements that many credit as the framework and foundation for both the Camp David Accords in 1978 and the Egypt-Israel Peace Treaty of 1979.
Suffolk County’s own and New York State Republican Chairman Ed Cox saw firsthand how President Nixon dealt swiftly and decisively with a declaration of war against Israel.
“Richard Nixon was my father-in-law. He was a great man. President Nixon did not think twice about going to ‘DEFCON-3.’ If the Soviets were sending troops, so would America. Moscow backed off. Eventually peace was at hand, all because President Nixon governed by a philosophy of ‘peace through strength,’” said Cox.
ISRAEL-HAMAS WAR OF 2023.
Fifty years and one day later on October 7th, 2023, Hamas terrorists killed 1,400 Israelis, the most innocent Israeli bloodshed since the Holocaust. Hundreds more innocent hostages are still being held by Hamas.
Following the Hamas terrorist attacks in October of last year, Palestinians and political progressives blasted President Biden for not calling for an immediate cease fire. “The Hill” reported that “Biden is sinking with progressives over his handling of the Israel-Hamas war.”
Palestinian protestors in Washington D.C. referred to President Biden as “Genocide Joe” chanted “Biden, Biden, you can’t hide! We charge you with genocide!” according to Rolling Stone Magazine.
According to CNN, a cable from the US Embassy in Oman warned President Biden that “We are losing badly on the messaging battlespace.” CNN also reported that one-third of all young voters disapprove of Biden’s handling of the current Israeli-Palestinian conflict.
President Biden’s own Vice-President Kamala Harris warned her boss, also according to CNN, that the United States should be “tougher on Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and be more forceful at seeking a long-term peace and two-state solution.”
War continues to rage. Tens of thousands of Israelis and Palestinians continue to die. One issue both sides agree on: President Biden needs to act boldly to end further bloodshed.
“President Biden needs to be more vocal in his support for a two-state solution,” remarked Sister Sanaa Nadim, Muslim Chaplain at Stony Brook University’s Interfaith Center. “The Palestinian people have no home. Their land has been destroyed. We need to shift toward a strategy that reinforces Israel’s sense of security and guarantees them safety while giving the Palestinians independence and self-determination.”
“I think we’re all worried about how the Palestinian people will ever recover from the death of so many of their people—over half of them children. We need to believe that there will be a better future for Palestine and Israel. This war is a painful reminder that both sides feel a sense of insecurity and hardship that is seemingly inescapable,” concluded Sister Nadim.