Victor Davis Hanson explains why President Trump has achieved more success in the Middle East than Democratic predecessors.
The short answer to why both the Biden and Obama administrations failed to achieve peace in the Middle East is that they took actions opposite to President Donald Trump’s current efforts, which have led to a cease-fire.
First, consider Iran.
Iran was flush with cash, on a trajectory toward a nuclear weapon and arming Israel’s “ring of fire” enemies: Hamas, Hezbollah and the Houthis.
The radical Islamic world of the Middle East was convinced that Israel would be doomed eventually.
Yet both Democratic administrations let Iran profit from oil sales.
They talked of delaying, but not ending, Iran’s nuclear program. And they feared that Hezbollah, Hamas and the Houthis were indomitable terrorist threats.
Thus, the disruptors of peace were appeased rather than deterred.
Two, both former Presidents Barack Obama and Joe Biden pressured Israel in general and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in particular to make constant concessions.
But neither offered any plan for how Israel was to survive when Iran sought its destruction, and Tehran’s terrorist triad aimed to bombard it with missiles, rockets and drones.
Worse, once the larger Middle East saw Democratic presidents appeasing Iran and its terrorist appendages, they concluded it was unsafe to take risks by allying with a delusional United States.
Three, both Obama and Biden despised and personally insulted Netanyahu, Egyptian President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi and the Saudi royal family.
Biden called Saudi Arabia a “pariah state” — at least until he needed it to pump more oil to lower gas prices before the 2022 midterms.
Both presidents sought to isolate Sisi and remove him from power.
Obama had his team leak insults of Netanyahu, most infamously the “chicken s–t” smear.
Middle Easterners have long memories.
Obama never would have thought up the Abraham Accords. Biden foolishly derailed and then pathetically tried to resurrect them.
