#WTH: 100 days, Houthis, Hezbollah, Hamas

And always Iran, Iran, Iran

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100 Days in captivity

There was a lot of coverage of the 100th day in captivity for Hamas’s hostages in Gaza. In truth, it was no more agonizing than the 99th day, but it did provide an occasion to keep these victims in the news. Because, in case you haven’t noticed, the world is forgetting that there are more than 100 innocent men, women, and children in Hamas’s evil clutches.

About that word, evil… I recently wrote about the dehumanization of our adversaries, and the need to avoid that — in general. But not in this case. Hamas’s own terrorists and their advocates outside Gaza are truly in a category of their own.

• Please, read this agonizing first-person narrative of life in the tunnels from 17-year old Agam Goldstein-Almog from the invaluable The Free Press substack.

• You probably saw the pro-Hamas demonstration in front of Sloan Kettering Memorial Hospital on Monday (MLK day). But you might have missed the staggering justification. Here it is:

  

• But there’s more vileness to go around. Here’s a NYPost headline: Israeli father says Hamas tried to sell his son’s decapitated head for $10,000. There are no words for this.

The Houthis, Hezbollah & The “Islamic Resistance in Iraq”

Yes, it’s like a broken record. All of these groups are Iran. Of course, the Houthis in Yemen, Hezbollah in Lebanon, and the various popular mobilization forces that have gathered under one umbrella to attack the United States in Iraq each have their own story, their own grievances, their own leadership. But at the end of the day, they work for one man, Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.

Here’s the strategic problem: Tehran will fight to the last Palestinian, Lebanese, Yemeni, Iraqi… to the last anyone-but-an-Iranian. Iran has paid no price for its proxies’ attacks: Not the Houthi assaults on Red Sea shipping, including this week’s attack on a U.S. ship; not Hamas’s murder of Americans, despite the fact that Iran has armed, financed, trained, and encouraged Hamas in its terrorism; not Hezbollah’s repeated attacks on US and allied interests.

The sanctions the US and Europe have imposed on Iran have not dented the nation’s coffers; there have still been no serious efforts to go after Iranian oil sales to China. There is only one thing the Iranians understand: A direct attack on their own. This does not mean war; to the contrary. The Iranians are not in this game for a direct conflict with the United States. But under Joe Biden, the US has lost its deterrent power. And in order to recover that deterrent, Iran must pay directly for its proxies’ attacks on America and America’s friends. It’s just that simple.