#Biden is signaling war crimes against Israel will be rewarded

Hamas and its terrorist allies have launched more than 1,000 rockets and missiles from Gaza, targeting Israeli civilians. In response, Israel has conducted airstrikes on military targets and terror-group leaders — which is the least any nation would do.

It’s the most violent escalation between the two sides since 2014, but it’s entirely Hamas’ fault.

Lefties around the globe are again condemning Israel for its self-defense. But as Lior Haiat of its Foreign Affairs Ministry noted Wednesday, Israel is “targeting those terrorists specifically” and “in an accurate and measured way.”

So far, the count is 14 senior Hamas commanders and officials dead, plus at least 25 Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad operatives.

Civilian deaths include seven Israelis, one a child, while Palestinian authorities report 14 kids among 56 civilian deaths. But some of those Palestinian casualties are from the rockets, a fifth of which are landing short in densely populated parts of Gaza. Others are the result of the terrorists intentionally basing themselves near civilians.

The pretext for Hamas’ attacks, Jonathan S. Tobin noted in these pages, are ginned-up concerns about mosques on the Temple Mount and a complex East Jerusalem property dispute. But the real reason is that Hamas and its allies are testing President Joe Biden, to see what Israeli concessions or Washington payoffs might be achievable now that Donald Trump is out of office.

Sadly, Biden is calling on “both sides” to show restraint and intimating that his administration favors the Palestinians in the property dispute. In short, even as he’s supporting Israel’s right to defend itself, he’s signaling that Hamas will be rewarded for what in any other context would count as war crimes.

And that, sadly, guarantees that Hamas & Co. will soon be back for more.