Andy Bloom: What should the United States learn from the Hamas attack on Israel?

There are many reasons the United States should pay attention to the barbaric Hamas 10/7 attacks on Israel. 

It’s disturbing to watch the reaction in some quarters. The demonstrations and rallies for ceasefires and support for the Palestinian people popping up around the country are supporting Hamas, one of the most inhumane terrorist groups. 

If the “protesters” understand what “from the river to the sea” means, they have joined with a terrorist organization whose goal is the destruction of Israel and the Jewish people. They are, at best, ignorant, and most likely anti-Semitic. It’s ironic because these same people preach tolerance at other times and want more diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI).

These protesters are further dividing a nation that already has too many schisms, much like Israel before the attacks.

In the immediate aftermath of the unprovoked attacks on Israel, there were questions about how the Israeli intelligence community missed the activities leading up to Hamas’ assault. Between Shabak (Shin Bet), Mossad, Aman (The IDF’s intel branch), and other agencies, Israel generally has some of the strongest intel in the world. 

Finger-pointing began at once. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and others said the surprise attack was due to a failure of the intelligence community. He apologized and promised that later, there would be a commission to investigate how Israel was caught by surprise. 

Israel’s longest-running print newspaper, Haaretz (liberal lean), along with liberal American news outlets including CNN, the Los Angeles Times, USA Today, Atlantic, and others, were quick to blame Netanyahu for the ambush. In their telling of Israel’s division, Netanyahu is solely to blame, as if there can be divisions if there is only one side.

Those articles were correct to point out that Israel has been rife with internal divisions between Netanyahu’s hard-right government and the equal-sized left-wing opposition. The two sides have been going at it as long as there has been discord in America over  Donald Trump.

A nation’s leader always takes the brunt of the blame, but blaming Netanyahu without including any responsibility by his opponents is pure partisanship and wrong-headedness. 

Israel’s national government is a parliamentary democracy. The Prime Minister is the head of the government as well as the leader of a multi-party system. Elections for the Prime Minister are at least every four years, but a new election is necessary if the Prime Minister’s coalition falls apart in the Israeli Knesset (legislative branch). It’s a complicated system (for Americans to understand) that has led to five elections since 2019.

The United States went through extraordinary chaos for 21 days without a Speaker of the House of Representatives. Imagine the pandemonium of going without a head of government for several weeks. 

Politically, Israel is divided so evenly that on multiple occasions, neither candidate was able to form a coalition government, effectively leaving the country with no Prime Minister for weeks.  

Many believe Israel was too distracted with its internal divisions and partisan issues to pay attention to the storm brewing in Gaza. It’s a valid concern and something Israel will examine in time. It’s also something U.S. citizens should consider as our two factions bicker.

Our divisions in the United States are at least as bad as in Israel – perhaps worse. Are we setting ourselves up to get blindsided as well? Remember, the 9/11 attacks came less than a year after the 2000 election, which divided the country.

Iran is Hamas’s benefactor. The Mullahs in Iran are as committed to the destruction of the United States as to Israel. Don’t forget the painful lessons of 1979 and the hostage ordeal, nor Iran’s ongoing nuclear ambitions, which too many American administrations have allowed to go unchecked.

Although Israel is the most recent target of terrorist attacks, the U.S. is never far from these extremists’ minds.

Before another attack on U.S. soil occurs, both sides best figure out we are all Americans. Both sides must come together, focus on what we agree on, and stop demonizing those with whom we disagree.  

Congress has shown they can do it. The government avoided shutting down on October 1st when then-Speaker Kevin McCarthy decided to put forward a bipartisan Continuing Resolution (HR 5860) rather than allow eight lunatic (or the Crazy Eight as he called them) Republican Members of the House to shut down the government. 

McCarthy paid the price when those eight Members engineered his ouster from the Speaker’s chair. Not one of the 209 Democrats who voted for HR 5860 to prevent the government from shutting down thought it was worth saving McCarthy for his bipartisanship. 

Democrats enjoyed the bedlam that ensued as Republicans struggled to elect a Speaker. Bipartisanship only goes so far.

Certainly, Steve Scalise (R-LA) or Tom Emmer (R-MN) would have been preferable to Democrats than Speaker Mike Johnson. But Democrats thought it was better to whoop it up during the bedlam and will now pay the price dealing with a Speaker more sympathetic to the far right and Donald Trump. 

Bipartisanship is needed. It’s unlikely that Johnson will strip committee assignments or any other punishment for the eight Republicans who have created turmoil since Republicans took the majority. 

On the other side of the aisle, Democrat leadership needs to tell Squad members such as Ilhan Omar and Rashida Tlaib that they are embarrassing the Party and country with their support for the terrorist group Hamas and many of their other actions. 

Leadership on both sides needs to reduce the influence of their lunatic fringes while the adults figure out areas where they agree or can compromise. But the leaders are afraid.

If the country remains as divided as it has been for the past eight years, the odds of what happened in Israel, resulting in another attack on U.S. soil, increase with each scoop of mud hurled.

Andy Bloom is President of Andy Bloom Communications. He specializes in media training and political communications. He has programmed legendary stations including WIP, WPHT, WYSP/Philadelphia, KLSX, Los Angeles, and WCCO Minneapolis. He was Vice President of Programming for Emmis International, Greater Media Inc., and Coleman Research. Andy also served as communications director for Rep. Michael R. Turner (R-Ohio). He can be reached by email at andy@andybloom.com or you can follow him on Twitter @AndyBloomCom.