Gaza is not the main event.

 Here in the United States we tend to see the critical struggle in the Middle East to be between Israel and Iran and we are currently torn apart over our effort to be pro-Israel without supporting the killing of “undue” numbers of Arab civilians.  The Biden Administration ignorantly feels it can best accomplish this objective by managing the flow of weaponry that we provide Israel and helping knock down Iranian missiles from time to time.

I argue that the real struggle that is ongoing in the Middle East is Shia versus Sunni, and Arab hostility to Jew is a side show.  Important in and of itself, but not the critical struggle.  The Trump Administration favored Sunni Riyadh and the Biden Administration Shia Teheran.  Given the stated objectives of the leadership currently controlling the two sides of the war within the Muslim community, in my opinion, the Biden Administration picked the wrong side, and the Trump Administration the right side.

Unfortunately, Riyadh is not very good at making war and Teheran is.  Riyadh’s military efforts in Yemen have been either laughable or abysmal and Teheran’s efforts throughout the region have been masterful.  Iranians are really good at making war and Saudis are definitely not.  And neither are we in the Middle East.  We have an edge in technology and formal combat situations, but because we are ignorant of the culture, we are unable to use military action to change the political situation.  It is hard to do at best, but we are nowhere close to doing it anywhere in the Middle East.

Were I influential, I would facilitate closer relations between Riyadh and Jerusalem and I would support both in their struggle against Teheran.  I would halt Teheran’s march toward having a nuclear capability, even if it required military action on our part.  Going to war with Iran right now is a very distasteful idea, but going to war with them after they have nuclear weapons is unthinkable.  Very unfortunately, thanks to Obama and Biden, they may already have the damn things.  If so, the choice is between confronting them now or waiting until they have even more.  It is not a good choice, but avoiding it is mindless.