The IDF is doing something I've never seen before: Gen. Jack Keane

Meanwhile of the story of the day, Israel reportedly moving closer to its invasion of Rafa, where more than a million Palestinians are taking shelter. We’re also told that Hamas leadership is in Rafa. Iranian proxy forces, meanwhile, are taking aim once again at U.S. troops in the region, attacking US bases in Iraq yesterday and in Syria on Sunday. There are these are the first attacks on U.S. troops in the region since February 4th. Yesterday also marked the 172nd attack since October 17th. Joining me right now to assess it all is Fox News senior strategic analyst. He is chairman of the Institute for the Study of War, General Jack Keane. General, always a pleasure. Thanks very much for being here this morning. Lighted to be here. So what are we doing, seeing now a resumption of these attacks on our U.S. troops? General, please assess the situation for us and where we are in terms of Israel needing to go into Rafa, the pushback from the administration and now Hamas or its proxies re upping that intimidation of U.S. forces. Yeah, well, certainly I I think it’s likely in reaction to the Prime Minister of Iraq was here speaking to President Biden and the White House and and many of these militants were were hoping would be the correct word that the president and the Prime Minister would agree to AUS troop withdrawal. That’s not why the Prime Minister was here. He was here to get established closer ties with the United States, not separate ties with the United States. So this is an expression of that frustration. If this obviously continues to be a a systematic program like they had before, then the United States has really got to go after this as we finally did and shut it down. That’s we already know what the way to to shut these things down is. You’ve got to really overmatch them and overpower them. And that’s the reality. So remains to be seen what the next step is when it comes to Hamas and Rafa and the Israelis, listen, they’re making absolutely the right call here. The war aim is to reduce the military effectiveness of Hamas and remove it as a political entity governing Gaza. Those two war aims are what this is about. And by doing that, putting pressure on Hamas, the IDF and the Prime Minister believe that also will lead to negotiations seriously about hostage release. So that is what this is about. And remarkably, the IDF is doing something we’ve never seen before in my experience in wartime. They’re going to attempt to move a million people out of the way to another part of Gaza so they can be away from the conflict and set up temporary shelters for them there, food, water and medical assistance. That will likely take some time, Maria. And that will unfold in front of our eyes probably, maybe a couple of weeks. We don’t know for sure, but that’s a sizable amount of population to move. Well, we’ll be watching that, of course. But you know, General, I just feel like I’d like to see a tougher stance from this administration to to support Israel because all of this anti Israel sentiment going on on these colleges across the country. Aren’t they empowered when they see, you know, Anthony Blinken talking about the potential of sanctions on an IDF unit or President Biden getting tough and leaking a phone call that he had with Bibi Netanyahu where he told him don’t go into Rafa or Chuck Schumer on the floor of the Senate saying, oh, you know, Netanyahu has to go and we need new elections. Don’t these anti Israel, you know, demonstrations get empowered when you see the White House attacking Israel in public sight. And in the middle of all of this, their their sheer survival fight, their fight for for existence. Yeah, there’s no doubt about it. I mean, the Iranians are, are really running a major information campaign on behalf of Hamas, Hezbollah and the proxies in the region and obviously for their own national interest. And many of the talking points that are being used there are actually showing up on the streets at these universities as part of the protest movement. And, and, and obviously the Iranians and Hamas and Hezbollah, etcetera, given, given the concessions that the administration is making and the pressure they put on Netanyahu. After all, just a week prior to the Iranian attack on Israel, this administration had walked away and separated itself from the war aims I just described that Israel has when it comes to Rafah. That is a major victory for the people on the streets waving these horrific anti-Semitic signs and other things that they’re saying because they believe they’re getting concessions out of the administration. So what’s the result of that? More demonstrations, more demonstrations because they believe it’s working. And certainly this administration has changed its viewpoint quite remarkably from where it was at the beginning to where it is now dealing with this situation. And I think it’s pretty shameful, frankly, to walk away from what the IDF and the Prime Minister and his war Cabinet are trying to achieve here. After all, we’re talking about an existential threat to the state of Israel. That is what is on the line here and you’ve got to see it for what it really is. And in the middle of it, we hear Anthony Blinken talking about putting sanctions on the IDF. I mean, where are the sanctions on China for all of this bad behavior? I mean, it’s just stunning. Meanwhile, the Senate expected to take up and pass the $95 billion foreign aid packages early as today. That includes what you wanted, aid for Ukraine, Israel, Gaza, the Indo Pacific region. General, you wrote a letter to House Speaker Mike Johnson with former Secretary of State Mike Pompeo. This letter last week urged the need for Ukraine funding. Tell us about this. Tell us more about it. I also spoke with the president of Poland on Sunday who made the same case, saying, look, we’ve got to stop Russian imperialism. Yeah, well, it was just straightforward. Just the facts on the table about what’s actually happening here and what Russia’s ambitions are and why it matters to stop Russia in Ukraine now. And the fact that it can be done and we don’t have to put any of our troops in harm’s way to accomplish that. And it was just very straightforward. And it it’s something that that the leadership in the House wanted for its members to read, and hopefully it had some impact. I give a lot of credit to Speaker Johnson, how he stepped forward, put his job on the line here, and also the parliamentarian skill sets that they had to let the House vote on it individually and then merge that into one bill and Senate to the Senate. That was masterful and it was able to get that bill passed and I think it’ll be passed in the Senate sometime today as well. It makes sense. This is about the United States national security. It’s not just about Ukraine security. It’s not just about Israel’s security, and it’s not just about security in the in the Pacific region. This impacts the United States national security and its economic well-being as well. Yeah. By the way, I don’t think a TikTok bill would have passed on its own in the Senate. I don’t think aid to Israel would have passed on its own in the Senate. Maybe the Ukraine bill would have. So putting it all in one is jamming it all in together, forcing, forcing a vote there. So what we’ll see. And how long do you think that takes? Once that passes in the Senate, will the actual work begin to send the aid over there? Does that happen immediately? Well, we already have stuff that’s yes, immediately. We already have things that are packaged in Europe and Poland, and they’re ready to move. The other things in the United States, they’re packaged ready to go. So yes, once the president signs it, things are going to start to move. Obviously all this takes some time, but I mean it it’s about as ready to go as it can possibly be. Yeah. And there will be no no amendments just 26 billion for Israel, 60 billion for Ukraine, 8 billion for Taiwan, national security measures, TikTok, et cetera, for the rest. But you know, I was with Utah Senator Mike Lee the other day, on Sunday morning, Futures general, and he said that 9 billion that is going to Gaza and humanitarian efforts. He, he, he thinks it’s going right to Hamas. Now that’s nonsense. It’s not going to Hamas. That’s what he said. He said Hamas is not going to allow. I know that’s what he said, but I’m just telling you, I’m just telling you he’s dead wrong. OK, All right, let me move on. I’m not going anywhere near Hamas. Believe me. The only thing that’s going near Hamas are bullets, all right? Bullets. That’s what they’re getting and they deserve it. Secretary of State Anthony Blinken is writing about this ongoing human rights abuses being committed by the Chinese Communist Party. It was happy to see him point this out. He wrote this in the State Department’s annual human rights report. General, the report being released just days before he’s expected to make a three day trip to Shanghai in Beijing to meet with Chinese officials. Here we go again, meeting all the Chinese officials and we’re not getting anything out of it. Lincoln writes this in the report. In Jinjiang, the PRC continues to carry out genocide, crimes against humanity, forced labor and other human rights violations against predominantly Muslim Uyghurs. General, your reaction to see this State Department human rights report just days before blinking heads to China again? Yeah, Well, it’s only you welcome this report. This is a once a year report. And it, you know, I think the Chinese just kind of roll their eyes about it. They may mention it to him when he arrives there. They may, they may not. But look at we, we play too nice with the Chinese. I mean, we, the president’s policy is we’re in competition with them and we’re managing that competition. But what we got to do is win that competition. And one of the things that China reacts to is criticism, and it’s ample criticism here on this issue. What about China’s penetration of American Civil society in a way that no other country has ever done in the history of the United States? It’s comprehensive and it’s far reaching. Lay all of that out there and and continue to lay that. Listen, it’s OK to be in competition with China and have some tension with China and have a little bit of friction in the relationship. After all, our values are completely different and so are our goals. And they have to clash at times, Yes. Do we want to avoid conflict and confrontation in terms of war? Absolutely. But we also have to win the competition. And part of that is showing China to the world, to who they really are. And they they absolutely get infuriated by that when we do it. And we should keep doing it. At the same time, do what Blinken’s doing. Sit down and talk to them and make sure we put on the line what is really happening. What you’re doing inside the United States, what you’re doing in the region and what you’re doing throughout the world, you are promoting aggression and chaos, not peace and stability. Those are phony words that you’re using. What you’re really promoting out there is aggression and chaos. Yeah. And disruption in America general. It’s always a pleasure. Thanks so much. Yeah, great talking, Maria.