In what is a sign of administration insanity or an open act of anti-Israel animus, the Biden administration plans to give 5,000 Palestinians arms and commando training ostensibly to ensure that the Palestinians in the West Bank region do not engage in terrorist attacks against Jews, while at the same time insisting that the Israeli Defense Force cut down on its presence in the same area. Talking about the fox guarding the hen house.

Writing at the Gatestone Institute, Bassam Tawil has the facts:

The Biden administration believes that the best way to de-escalate tensions between Israel and the Palestinians is by allowing the Palestinian Authority (PA) to recruit more officers to the Palestinian security forces in the West Bank.

According to reports, the Biden Administration officials recently proposed a plan “to provide 5,000 Palestinians with commando training in Jordan” and then deploy them to areas under the control of the PA. The 5,000 officers will bring with them 5,000 rifles to Palestinian cities and towns -- where almost every Palestinian already has a weapon.

[snip]

In addition, the plan would require Israel “to sharply curtail IDF counterterror operations.” The Biden administration, in other words, wants Israel to stop defending itself and rely on the Palestinian leadership and the new Palestinian “commandos” to go after the terrorists. Palestinian officials, meanwhile, are busy glorifying terrorism and paying visits to the families of terrorists.

This would leave the Israelis with the rights to neither self-defense nor hot-pursuit. Terrorists will be able strike inside Israel, then run back to the Palestinian areas where they will be “home free;” instead of being arrested, they will be celebrated.

The Zionist Organization of America, the oldest pro-zionist organization in America, founded in 1897, was rightly horrified by the proposal, which arms Israel’s most genocidal enemies to “watch over” Jewish communities while kicking Israel out of the picture:

The Zionist Organization of America (ZOA) denounces, in the strongest possible terms, the Biden Administration’s unconscionable, illegal plan to provide commando training in Jordan to 5,000 Palestinian-Arab army of terrorists or future terrorists; and to then equip and deploy this Palestinian-Arab commando army in Judea/Samaria, along with foreign and U.S. forces. 

The administration’s horrific, frightening, dangerous plan also requires Israel “to sharply curtail IDF counterterror operations.” U.S. security coordinator Lieutenant General (LTG) Michael Fenzel, who is currently responsible for training Palestinian Authority (PA) police in Judea and Samaria, proposed training the new 5,000-strong commando army, and deploying foreign forces, including U.S. military forces, on the ground.

Thus, under the Biden administration’s plan, Israel would be restricted from defending innocent Israelis from terrorists; and much of Judea/Samaria would become a “safe haven” for terrorists to retreat to and be celebrated after perpetrating murderous terror attacks in Israel, with no consequences.

Moreover, American and other foreign forces on the ground would become sitting ducks, subject to Palestinian-Arab terror attacks. American and foreign soldiers would also become human shields, who block Israel from going after the terrorists, lest foreign forces be caught in the crossfire. Further, the PA will want foreign forces to include Iranians, thereby introducing even more terror into the region.

The ZOA has much more to say on the subject, including the fact that it violates the 1995 Oslo Accords II, Article IV.3, which explicitly states that the only armed forces in the West Bank can be Palestinian police and the IDF. That means the Biden plan is illegal under international law, giving Israel the right to act against those 5,000 American-trained and armed commandos.

What I’m struggling to figure out is whether the Biden administration is stupid and deluded or, in keeping with my “fox guarding the henhouse” analogy, crazy like a fox, having come up with yet another way to destroy Israel. However, one views it, it’s a clear sign that the Democrat party—which once strongly supported Israel as a fulfillment of Biblical prophecy; a continuum of the 3,000-year-long, unbroken Jewish connection to the land of Israel; and a bastion of light as the sole liberal democracy in the Middle East—has now firmly embraced the tyrannical, genocidal Palestinian cause.

Image: Palestinian proudly displays his bloody hands to a cheering crowd after lynching two Israeli soldiers.