Fighting has erupted between Israel and the Palestinians after weeks of tensions in Jerusalem. More than a thousand rockets were fired by Gaza terrorists into Israel, so the latter responded with strikes against Hamas targets. After several Israeli airstrikes, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu declared, “The IDF (Israel Defense Forces) attacked hundreds of Hamas and Islamic Jihad terrorist targets in the Gaza Strip. We have eliminated dozens of terrorists, including senior commanders.” He promised an “iron fist if needed.”

This is the heaviest fighting between the two foes since 2014. As of this writing, the casualties consist of several Israelis, including three women and multiple children, and wounded dozens, all from Hamas’s indiscriminate rocket attacks. Well, not entirely indiscriminate. The editors at National Review write, “The rockets have been aimed at schools, at Israeli civilians in the highly populated Tel Aviv area, and — in a major escalation — at Ben Gurion Airport, which connects Israel with the outside world.”

Israel would have suffered significantly more casualties if not for its “Iron Dome” missile defense system that has intercepted 85-90% of the more than 850 rockets fired into Israel. Meanwhile, more than 60 Palestinians have been killed and hundreds wounded in Israel’s retaliatory action. Importantly, Israel has taken out high-profile Hamas leaders, such as Hassan Kaogi, head of the Hamas military intelligence, and Bassem Issa, who the Associated Press calls “the highest-ranking military figure in Hamas to be killed Israel since 2014.”

Hamas is funded by Iran and essentially acts as a proxy of Tehran, and this violence is meant to test a demonstrably weak Joe Biden. Iran’s calculation is that it can pressure Biden and company into making concessions in exchange for pulling in the reins on its proxies. Biden really wants back into the nuclear deal, after all.

Exacerbating the situation are leftist Democrats whose anti-Israel sentiments have them blaming the victim rather than the perpetrator. “I am extremely concerned by the growing conflict in Israel and Palestine,” lamented Senator Bernie Sanders (VT), who then turned the blame on Israel. “Once again we are seeing how the irresponsible actions of government-allied right-wing extremists in Jerusalem can escalate quickly into devastating war.”

Sanders’s statements are at least coherent when compared to anti-Semite Representative Ilhan Omar’s screeds. “Unlike Israel, missile defense programs, such as Iron Dome, don’t exist to protect Palestinian civilians,” she complained. “It’s unconscionable to not condemn these attacks on the week of Eid.” So, by Omar’s logic, Israelis should just take unprovoked, indiscriminate terrorist rocket attacks and not retaliate because they have developed better technology to defend their citizens. What motivated Israel to develop this technology in the first place?

Donald Trump, whose impressive foreign policy achievements, especially in the Middle East, garnered multiple nominations for the Nobel Peace Price, slammed Biden’s weak leadership. “When I was in office we were known as the Peace Presidency,” he said, “because Israel’s adversaries knew that the United States stood strongly with Israel and there would be swift retribution if Israel was attacked. Under Biden, the world is getting more violent and more unstable because Biden’s weakness and lack of support for Israel is leading to new attacks on our allies.”

Trump added, “America must always stand with Israel and make clear that the Palestinians must end the violence, terror, and rocket attacks, and make clear that the U.S. will always strongly support Israel’s right to defend itself. Unbelievably, Democrats also continue to stand by crazed anti-American Rep. Ilhan Omar, and others, who savagely attack Israel while they are under terrorist assault.”

And as former Secretary of State Mike Pompeo rightly put it, “Hamas knew that we would always support Israel’s right to defend itself and that no amount of globalist silly leftist pressure would cause us to join in the Palestinian Authority’s support of terror. And we certainly weren’t going to have U.S. taxpayers underwrite PA leaders who refused to oppose the use of violence. Now, attacks may be rewarded by the United States blaming Israel. In short, deterrence and supporting your allies work to keep peace.”

Will Biden step up in support of Israel? Even though he’d rather placate America’s foes than stand by her allies, after days of silence, he finally offered this: “Israel has a right to defend itself when you have thousands of rockets flying into your territory.” We’re still waiting for condemnation of the people firing those inanimate rockets.