We reported last week that Secretary of State Antony Blinken had returned to Israel to pressure Israel to extend the cease-fire with Hamas. He failed. The war resumed after Hamas murdered four Israelis Thursday and launched a new barrage of rocket attacks.

Blinken failed because he’s pressuring the wrong people. Hamas isn’t interested in peace with Israel. Hamas, not Israel, broke this cease-fire, just like it broke the previous cease-fire on October 7th.

But Blinken’s failure to renew the cease-fire pales in comparison to his betrayal of our ally Israel.

According to a leaked transcript of his meeting with the Israeli war cabinet, Blinken lectured top Israeli leaders as if they were little children. He dictated to them how they could conduct their war against Hamas and for how long.

When Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant informed Blinken that “The entire Israeli society is united behind the goal of dismantling Hamas, even if it takes months,” Blinken responded, “I don’t think you have the credit for that.”

It’s not entirely clear what Blinken meant by that response. Was he suggesting that Joe Biden might not give Israel further military “credit” for an extended campaign against Hamas?

Or was he suggesting that Israel doesn’t have enough “credit” or standing in world opinion for an extended campaign?

Either explanation could be plausible at this point.

But the bottom line is clear: The Biden Administration is doing everything it can to stop Israel from doing what it must do to survive as a nation.

Unless the terrorist infrastructure in Gaza is wiped out, more innocent Israelis and innocent Palestinians will die. We know that for certain.

Moreover, the people in southern Israel who have had to leave their homes near the Gaza border will never be able to go back, and no one will ever invest in Gaza because it’s so unsafe.

But it’s not just that. A huge number of Israelis have been forced to evacuate from northern Israel, away from towns near the border of Lebanon where Hezbollah reigns supreme.

Well, if Israel can’t take out Hamas in Gaza, they surely won’t be allowed to deal with Hezbollah in Lebanon. So, many Israelis are now living as refugees in their own country.

Israel, already among the smallest nations in the Middle East, is shrinking before our eyes under this weak and inept president!

That’s whetting the appetite of the radical Islamic supremacists who believe Allah is on their side in this conflict. (See next item.)

If Israel is handcuffed and not allowed to defeat Hamas, many more people will die because Joe Biden is putting his political interests in Michigan and Minnesota next November ahead of the existence of the Jewish state.

More Atrocities Are Coming

We have already told you about Ghazi Hamad, the Hamas leader who vowed that attacks like October 7th would continue again and again and again until Israel is annihilated.

Thursday, Yahya Sinwar, the leader of Hamas in Gaza, declared that “October 7 was just a rehearsal.” And why would Sinwar say this so confidently when he is hiding like a sewer rat in the tunnels of Gaza?

Just the day before, his main benefactor, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei of Iran, praised Sinwar and Hamas, saying the October 7th massacre had “destroyed the reputation of … the United States” and “ruined the reputation of Western culture and civilization.”

Nothing excites Islamic supremacists more than the spilling of Jewish blood!

But, my friends, note carefully who the ayatollah was aiming his venom at. It wasn’t Israel. It was us — the United States. We are the “Great Satan,” not Israel. And the jihadists won’t be satisfied until we are destroyed, too.

That’s why they continue to attack us, not just Israel. The Pentagon acknowledged last week that U.S. military personnel in the Middle East have been attacked 74 times since the October 7th massacre.

Clearly, Biden’s feckless leadership in bombing a few empty warehouses isn’t dissuading the ayatollah one bit. And it’s only a matter of time before our homeland is attacked again.

Durbin The Destroyer

Senate Democrats destroyed yet another norm and tradition Thursday. Sen. Dick Durbin (D-IL), chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee, rammed through subpoenas against Leonard Leo and Harlan Crow, two private citizens who stand accused of nothing more than merely being friends with conservative Supreme Court justices.

These subpoenas have no legislative purpose whatsoever. They were issued as instruments of harassment and intimidation in a raw exercise of political power, just like you’d expect from any Stalinist show trial.

This abuse was so egregious that Senate Republicans walked out of Thursday’s committee hearing in protest. Senator John Cornyn of Texas blasted Durbin, saying:

“Mr. Chairman, you just destroyed one of the most important committees in the United States Senate… Congratulations on destroying the United States Senate Judiciary Committee.”

Leonard Leo is a private citizen who runs an organization that advocates for conservative judges. Harlan Crow is a conservative businessman and a friend of Clarence Thomas. And for that, they are being dragged through the mud by vindictive Democrats.

This is proof of what I keep warning about — it’s not just a war on Trump. It’s a war against all of us!

If the left can get rid of the filibuster, they will. If they can pack the court, they will. Right now, they’re actually trying to make the court smaller by forcing conservative justices to recuse themselves on critical cases.

Every Republican clinging to the absurd hope that things will return to normal or somehow get better once Trump is off the stage is in utter denial.

The Left Coast vs. Right Coast Debate

The much-hyped Fox News debate between California Gov. Gavin Newsom (D) and Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis (R) took place Thursday night.

By most accounts, Gov. DeSantis won the debate. Even the New York Times conceded that DeSantis was “feistier” and “better prepared” Thursday night than what we’ve seen so far in the GOP primary debates. The Times added that DeSantis “kept Mr. Newsom on his heels for much of the night, hitting him on subject after subject.”

That said, Newsom scored a hit when he mocked DeSantis’s struggling campaign, saying, “We have one thing in common: Neither of us will be the nominee for our party in 2024… How’s that going for you, Ron? You’re down 41 points in your own state.”

For many conservatives, it was the first time they had seen Newsom in action. He’s one smooth politician, and the exact opposite of Joe Biden. Every word is perfectly chosen. Every thought is finished. Every sentence is perfectly delivered. And no name is forgotten.

A morning talk show in Washington, D.C., drew a comparison to the 1960 Kennedy/Nixon debate, where people listening on the radio thought Nixon won for his command of the issues, while those who watched on TV thought Kennedy won for his commanding presence on the stage.

Democrat Disinformation

Democrats love to complain about disinformation on the right. Well, one Democrat was really dishing out the disinformation Thursday during a House Judiciary Committee hearing.

Twitter Files journalist Michael Shellenberger was discussing how government officials and Big Tech conspired to censor stories about Hunter Biden’s laptop. Suddenly, Rep. Dan Goldman (D-NY) jumped in to suggest that Hunter’s laptop might not be real.

An astonished Shellenberger asked the congressman, “Are you suggesting that the New York Post participated in a conspiracy to construct the contents of the Hunter Biden laptop?”

Goldman replied by saying that the hard drive might have been manipulated by Rudy Giuliani or the Russians. Shellenberger shot back, “So you’re engaging in a conspiracy theory.”

Here we go again. Democrats are trying to deny the reality of what’s on “Hunter’s laptop from hell” by resurrecting the debunked Deep State hoax that it was “Russian disinformation.” They just won’t let it go!

Good News

• In a stunning rebuke of Joe Biden’s hapless foreign policy, the House of Representatives voted overwhelmingly — 307 to 119 — to permanently freeze the $6 billion Biden released to Iran.
• Tennessee Gov. Bill Lee is calling for a massive expansion of the state’s school choice program, providing greater educational options for more Tennessee families.
• The South Carolina Supreme Court upheld the state’s pro-life heartbeat law.
• A federal judge in Rhode Island rejected an attempt to block Donald Trump from the ballot under the 14th Amendment.
• Nineteen state attorneys general (all Republicans) are warning against new regulations from the Biden Administration that would essentially ban Christian families from serving as foster parents.
• A state judge blocked a pro-abortion ballot initiative in Nevada based on its misleading language.
• The House of Representatives expelled Rep. George Santos (R-NY) for alleged corruption and criminal behavior. Now when will the Senate expel Sen. Bob “Gold Bars” Menendez (D-NJ)?