Indicted Egyptian agent Bob Menendez should pressure Cairo to open Gaza corridor
Tiana Lowe Doescher
Video Embed
Despite half the Democratic Party dumping him amid a second slew of federal corruption charges, the recently indicted Sen. Bob Menendez (D-NJ) has hung steadfastly to his Senate seat. On Thursday, a superseding indictment took the charges one step further, accusing the New Jerseyite of acting as an Egyptian agent while chairing the Senate Foreign Relations Committee.
Ordinarily, Menendez nearly getting away with the same crime twice would be a travesty. His refusal to step down from the Senate would make a mockery of the upper chamber, and his shamelessness would prove the growing distance between the political class and the public to whom it is supposed to be accountable. But if Menendez wants to prove he has any value as a senator beyond sheer obstinance and ego, this alleged Egyptian agent could actually be made for the moment.
SAM BANKMAN-FRIED THOUGHT MESSY HAIR WAS KEY TO HIS SUCCESS, CAROLINE ELLISON CLAIMS
American and Israeli intelligence massively dropped the ball in failing to anticipate the massacre that Hamas began on the latter over the weekend. Yet despite the shocking failures of American and Israeli intelligence, Egypt reportedly warned Israel three days before the invasion that an attack like the Shabbat incursion would happen, according to House Foreign Affairs Committee Chairman Michael McCaul (R-TX).
If Egypt really wants to help avoid further bloodshed, Egypt must be pressed to open the Rafah border crossing between itself and the Gaza Strip to accept those Palestinians committed to peace. As the White House has maintained, Israel has an obligation to defend itself and retaliate on Gaza directly, but as Israel always does, it will surely want to limit the loss of civilian lives. Those wishing to defy the orders of Hamas, which prefers to hide behind civilian casualties, should be welcomed with open arms into Egypt with international aid. Palestinians who remain behind in Gaza should then be treated as active enemy combatants by Israel and its allies.
CLICK HERE TO READ MORE FROM THE WASHINGTON EXAMINER
Like the rest of the Arab world, Egypt’s rhetorical embrace of the Palestinian cause has rarely been matched by actual aid and comfort to the Palestinian people. The single largest donor of humanitarian aid to the Palestinians has been the European Union for three decades, with more than three-quarters of total humanitarian aid contributed by non-Arab countries. And even since the beginning of Israel’s response to the Hamas attack, Egypt has kept the border with Gaza shut.
What good is letting a senator get away with federal corruption crimes twice and chair the Senate Foreign Relations Committee as an unregistered foreign agent if not for such a time as this? Menendez, who challenged his party’s embrace of the Iran deal, is ideologically in the position to enable a cleaner victory for the Israelis with less collateral damage, and what great luck that the country in the best position to accept refugees from an active war zone is the same state that evidently cultivated him as an asset for half a decade! Mr. Menendez, your flirtation with treason could genuinely save countless lives if you choose to capitalize on the opportunity.