HANSON: How Biden and Obama failed in the Middle East

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The short answer to why the Biden and Obama administrations failed to achieve peace in the Middle East is that they took actions that were the opposite of the president. Donald Trump's current effortswhich led to a ceasefire.

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First, consider Iran.

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Iran had plenty of money, was on its way to developing nuclear weapons, and was arming the “ring of fire” of Israel's enemies: Hamas, Hezbollah and the Houthis.

The radical Islamic world of the Middle East was convinced that Israel would ultimately be doomed.

However, both Democratic administrations have allowed Iran to profit from oil sales.

They talked about delaying, but not ending, Iran's nuclear program. And they feared that Hezbollah, Hamas and the Houthis posed an unstoppable terrorist threat.

Thus the peacemakers were appeased rather than restrained.

Second, both former Presidents Barack Obama and Joe Biden pressured Israel in general and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in particular to make ongoing concessions.

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But neither offered any plan for Israel's survival when Iran sought its destruction and Tehran's terrorist triad intended to bombard it with rockets, missiles and drones.

Worse, once the greater Middle East saw Democratic presidents appeasing Iran and its terrorist appendages, they concluded that it was not safe to risk an alliance with the delusional United States.

Third, both Obama and Biden disdained and personally insulted Netanyahu, Egyptian President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi, and the Saudi royal family.

Biden has called Saudi Arabia a “rogue state” – at least until he needs it to pump more oil to lower gas prices ahead of the 2022 midterm elections.

Both presidents sought to isolate Sisi and remove him from power.

Obama had his team hurl insults at Netanyahu, most notoriously the “chicken shit” smear.

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.Middle Easterners have long memories.

Obama would never have come up with the Abraham Accords. Biden foolishly went off the rails and then pathetically tried to resurrect them.

.Neither the Gulf monarchies, nor Egypt, nor any conservative government in Israel had any incentive to deal with Obama and Biden, whom they despised.

TRUMP'S INFLUENCE INCREASES

And yet, the more Trump is respected and involved with the Gulf sheikhs, Sisi and Netanyahu, the more their collective wealth—and its influence on their countries—increased.

Fourth, the Obama and Biden administrations were reluctant to use force to curb terrorism in the Middle East.

None of them could ever take out Iranian General Qasem Soleimani and ISIS founder Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, destroy ISIS, destroy most of the Russian Wagner Group, or deal a major blow to the Houthis.

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As a result, neither the Israelis nor the Arabs trusted Obama and Biden. Therefore, they tried not to take risks, fearing that the United States would leave them in limbo.

Fifth, on the world stage, both Democratic administrations projected a general sense of peace and indecision that emboldened enemies and discouraged friends.

The Middle East remembered the bombing adventure in Libya in 2011 and John Kerry's pathetic attempts in 2013 to seek help from Russia in the Middle East.

He recalled Russia's seizure of Crimea and Donbass in 2014, appeasement of Iran in 2016 to secure a nuclear deal and China's 2021 defeat of Biden's diplomats in Anchorage.

It was shocked by the humiliating departure from Afghanistan in 2021, the Russian attack on Kyiv in 2022 and the Chinese hot air balloon fiasco in 2023.

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The Middle East has concluded that America is in controlled decline. He could not or would not protect his own interests, much less the interests of his expendable friends.

Sixth, Obama—and especially Biden—were limited to their domestic bases in a way that Trump was not.

The pro-Hamas and anti-Israel left kept Democratic presidents from taking risks. In contrast, Trump withstood MAGA fury over bombing Iran or allowing Netanyahu to destroy most of Hamas.

Seventh, the Democrats spoke diplomatically. They looked down on mercantilism and therefore never associated with either the Arabs or the Israelis.

Trump equated the peace agreement with prosperity. He promised that almost all interests would bring mutual benefit.

In negotiations, he favored businessmen—himself, Jared Kushner, and Steve Witkoff—over diplomats.

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It turned out that Arabs and Israelis did too.

OBAMA AND BIDEN MADE EMPTY THREATS

Eighth, Obama and Biden were notorious for making empty threats. Few ever believed Obama's 2012 WMD red line on Syria.

No one took Biden's threat to “not do it” seriously in 2022, when Russia was on the verge of invading Ukraine.

On the contrary, Trump's threats were all too real.

Ninth, previous American administrations have been frustrated by Qatar's duplicity. And so they calmed him down. Trump offered both carrot and stick. After Israel bombed Qatar, the regime sought support from Trump, shocked and ready to help.

Tenth, the Obama and Biden teams—Hillary Clinton, John Kerry, Susan Rice, Leon Panetta, Jake Sullivan, Antony Blinken, and Lloyd Austin—were multipliers of their presidents' naivety and incompetence.

In contrast, Sen. Marco Rubio, Gen. Eric Kurilla and Dan Kane, Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner shaped, divided and expanded the Trump agenda.

— Victor Davis Hanson is a distinguished fellow at the Center for American Greatness. He is a classicist and historian at Stanford University's Hoover Institution, and the author of World War II: How the First Global Conflict was Fought and Won from Basic Books.

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