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Commentary
Wall Street Journal

Appeasing Iran Has Failed

Obama and Biden’s effort at détente with Tehran destabilized the entire region and emboldened Hamas.

walter_russell_mead
walter_russell_mead
Ravenel B. Curry III Distinguished Fellow in Strategy and Statesmanship
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Caption
Secretary of State John Kerry greets Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif in Vienna on July 14, 2014. (US State Department via Flickr)

The horrors don’t stop. The latest, as casualties continue to mount across Gaza, is the accumulating evidence that the killers from Hamas lacked even the humanity to grant their victims the mercy of a quick death. In far too many cases, the victims were tortured before they were killed.

But the horror is not limited to the Middle East. Decent people everywhere, including pious Muslims and fervent supporters of the Palestinian cause, recoiled from acts of barbarity that recall the darkest moments in human history. Basic decency, however, is not universal. There are Jew haters among us. Moved by bloodlust and orgiastic fantasies of revenge, they thronged the streets and squares of Europe and marched across American campuses.