Although Israel’s Sunni jihadist Hamas neighbors to the country’s southwest may take up more international headlines, it is Israel’s Shiite jihadist Hezbollah neighbors to the country’s Lebanese (and, of a more recent vintage, Syrian) north that many feel poses a greater long-term challenge to Israel’s national security interests. Hezbollah, after all, is a proxy of the terrorist Iranian regime and is exceedingly well-armed in terms of its missile and rocket arsenal. Consider this 2016 piece at The Tower bluntly entitled, “The New Hezbollah: Israel’s Next War Will Be A Godawful Mess”:

Hezbollah’s own preparations for its next war with Israel betray its intentions to once again act as a guerrilla force. Hezbollah has expanded and upgraded its already formidable underground tunnel network in south Lebanon. Replicating its strategy of using civilian cover, it has built up over 200 Shiite villages into fortified fighting zones, with rockets, anti-aircraft missiles, and command centers. Israel will be forced once again to choose between the unsavory options of striking the villages and killing civilians, or withholding fire. Despite rhetoric from the IDF brass that these areas will be considered targetable military bases, the Gideon Doctrine still acknowledges this as a real dilemma.

Now, The Times of Israel reports that the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) is warning that Hezbollah is still actively planning an invasion into Israel’s north — and, specifically, into the Sea of Galilee:

The new commander of the IDF’s Ground Forces said Thursday the Lebanese terrorist group Hezbollah was still planning to carry out a surprise invasion of northern Israel, despite the recent Israeli operation to uncover and destroy an extensive network of cross-border attack tunnels dug by the Iran-backed militia.

Maj. Gen. Yoel Strick was tapped to lead the military’s Ground Forces in February, amid increased criticism charging that Israeli troops were not prepared for war. His comments came less than four months after the IDF concluded its anti-tunnel operation along the Lebanese border.

(Read more from “IDF General Warns That Hezbollah Plans for Invasion of Sea of Galilee” HERE)

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The U.S. is fully aware of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s flat rejection of the creation of a Palestinian state along with his plans to extend Israeli law to West Bank settlements, the Israeli premier said on Monday.

In an interview with Channel 12, Netanyahu pushed back against his main challenger Benny Gantz’s claims that his vow to annex the West Bank was nothing more than an empty campaign promise.

Netanyahu over the weekend historically declared that he fully intends to extend Israeli sovereignty over the West Bank. The incumbent prime minister also said he had told President Donald Trump that would not evacuate “a single person” from the 400,000 or so Jews residing in the West Bank.

“Why did it take two years to get recognition of the Golan Heights even with such a friendly president? These things takes time,” said Netanyahu in reference to Trump’s presidential order last month recognizing Israeli sovereignty over the Golan Heights. . .

“There will be no Palestinian state,” he said, “not like the one people are talking about. It won’t happen.” (Read more from “Netanyahu: There Will Be No Palestinian State” HERE)

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The leadership in the Democratic Party used to believe that it was important to at least be perceived as supportive of America’s closest and most strategically important Middle East ally. But aspiring Democratic presidential hopefuls have decided to abandon Israel, as proven by their refusal to speak at next week’s AIPAC Policy Conference.

The list of speakers at next week’s AIPAC (American Israel Public Affairs Committee) Policy Conference in Washington, D.C., includes not a single declared 2020 Democratic presidential candidate.

AIPAC, a bipartisan pro-Israel organization that advocates for the strengthening of the U.S.-Israel bond, is the opposite of a fringe group. In fact, many in the pro-Israel community have become frustrated with its watered-down stances in order to accommodate Democrats’ increasing abandonment of the Jewish state. If anything, AIPAC has become what can be fairly labeled a center-left pro-Israel organization. AIPAC has continuously appeased liberals through its support of the two-state solution and continuing engagement with the Palestinian Authority.

Anti-Israel zealots in the Democratic Party have attempted, with now demonstrable success, to make support for Israel politically toxic. Popular Democratic members of Congress such as Islamist anti-Semite Rep. Ilhan Omar, D-Minn., and socialist Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, D-N.Y., have slandered AIPAC, labeling the group a shadowy, nefarious actor that undermines the American political system.

Some Democratic hopefuls have already confirmed that they will not be speaking at next week’s conference, while others have abstained from commenting on their schedule.

New: @KamalaHarris is not going to @AIPAC, an aide confirms to @POLITICO

— Christopher Cadelago (@ccadelago) March 21, 2019

NEW: @BernieSanders will not attend AIPAC conference. Policy director @joshorton tells @CNN:
“Sen. Sanders has no plans to attend the AIPAC conference. He’s concerned about the platform AIPAC is providing for leaders who have expressed bigotry and oppose a two-state solution.”

— Ryan Nobles (@ryanobles) March 21, 2019

Dem presidential hopefuls Pete Buttigieg, Julián Castro, and Elizabeth Warren are not attending the AIPAC conference, their campaigns told BF earlier this week.

Howard Schultz also not going, per his campaign.

— Alexis Levinson (@alexis_levinson) March 21, 2019

Several of the same 2020 Democrats who refuse to attend the AIPAC policy conference unanimously agree that it is essential to re-engage in the Obama-brokered Iran nuclear deal. The deal gave Iran, which openly calls for Israel’s destruction, $150 billion in unfrozen assets and a pathway to nuclear weapons.

Even President Obama, who was very hostile to Israel, spoke at AIPAC, both as a presidential candidate in 2008 and later as president in 2012. At the time, Democrats calculated that it was important to at least be perceived as pro-Israel. During the course of the Obama presidency, top cabinet official spoke at every annual AIPAC conference and stressed their commitment to the US-Israel alliance.

It appears those days are over. The Democratic Party has become an anti-Israel party. And 2020 Democrats’ harmonious refusal to attend a middle-of-the-road, bipartisan pro-Israel conference cements that reality. Scorched-earth leftists are rapidly transforming the Democratic Party into the party of anti-Israel hate. AIPAC, due its unapologetic support for Israel’s right to exist as a sovereign state, has officially become politically toxic for 2020 Democrats. (For more from the author of “2020 Democrats Abandon Pro-Israel Pretense” please click HERE)

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