Doublethink

“Doublethink means the power of holding two contradictory beliefs in one’s mind simultaneously, and accepting both of them.” George Orwell

On 09/03/24 the US Department of Justice indicted leaders of Hamas on terrorism charges. The following day Reuters reported that the Biden administration announced they were close to making yet another new proposal for a Gaza ceasefire and release of hostages; this is eerily like Orwell’s “Doublethink”. To indict these terrorists would be a welcome moral statement, but to do so nearly a year after their heinous massacres appears not only belated, but cynically opportunistic as it comes so close to an election. For the US to be simultaneously indicting and negotiating with those same terrorists demonstrates a conflicted, if not hypocritical policy.

Politicians have used doublethink to deceive people many times throughout history, but this is a particularly heinous example because it demonstrates both an illusion of moral righteousness while betraying its principles. There will never be an arraignment to follow-up the indictment, and the administration knows that, despite the fact that once a UN member nation issues an indictment, all other member nations are obligated to arrest and extradite those indicted; does anyone expect Qatar, where the leaders of Hamas reside, to do so?

This administration has one consistent policy regarding the current war between terrorists and Israel, and that is to avoid having one; issuing indictments is not a policy, nor is it an effective response to the murders of Americans. Waving legal documents in the face of thugs like Hamas does nothing but make them emboldened to continue playing the game that so far has hamstrung Israel in its fight for its very existence. The objective and thinking American should question the ethics or the intelligence, if not both, of its government.

It’s one thing for the administration to create such a contradiction, but it’s another to maintain the obvious error as a policy that is devoid of any sense of reality; it’s like thinking that a wolf is deterred from attack by the bleating of sheep. When Americans are faced with a situation where our government acts in such an egregious contradiction that potentially puts us in harms way, we have the cruel choice of either losing our own moral compass or our respect for the administration.

While they profess support for Israel, the Biden administration has consistently been inconsistent in acting accordingly. While I do not support interventionism, either in foreign affairs or economics, the US is where it is in accordance with its policy and numerous treaties as an ally of Israel. Further, it has always been an American policy to never negotiate with terrorists, especially those guilty of the murder of Americans. Issuing indictments is fine, but until you bring those indicted to justice, they are nothing more than the bleating of sheep.