It isn't all that often that I find myself agreeing with Secretary of State Antony Blinken, but on Wednesday, he was spot-on as he spoke from the State Department podium regarding the Israel-Hamas war and the ongoing calls for a cease-fire...directed at Israel. 

In the clip below, Blinken thoroughly lays out the uni-directional pressure campaign regarding the war — and the utter inanity of it. While the United Nations, countries around the world, and misguided (if not outright dishonest and/or antisemitic) Hamas apologists here in the U.S. clamor for Israel to hold its fire, virtually no one (aside from Israel and, on good days, the U.S.) is clamoring for Hamas — the instigator in this whole situation — to do the same. 

It's been 74 days since Hamas unleashed its evil on Israel, massacring over 1,200 people — primarily civilians — and taking some 240 hostages. Thankfully, roughly 115 of the hostages have since been released, though not without horrendous harm having been inflicted on them. Several hostages have been killed in captivity. And over 100 remain in the clutches of Hamas or its out-sourced terror groups. 

The solution is simple — and Israel has been more than clear regarding its objectives and intentions. So, credit where it's due, and kudos to Blinken for, in this instance, nailing it: 

.@SecBlinken: No one is demanding that Hamas stop hiding behind civilians, lay down its arms, and surrender. This is over tomorrow if Hamas does that. How can it be that there are no demands made of the aggressor and only demands made of the victim?
🇮🇱🇺🇸 pic.twitter.com/VrAo3Wxy3Z

— Israel War Room (@IsraelWarRoom) December 20, 2023

"Israel has been very clear, including as recently as today, that it would welcome returning to a pause and the further release of hostages. The problem was and has been and remains Hamas. They reneged on commitments that they made during the first pause for hostage releases, and the question is whether they are, in fact, willing to resume this effort. 

"We believe that, as we said from the outset, Israel has not only a right but an obligation to defend itself and to try to make sure that October 7th never happens again. Any other country in the world, faced with what Israel suffered on October 7th, would do the same thing. 

"What is striking to me is that even as, again, we hear many countries urging the end to this conflict — which we would all like to see — I hear virtually no one saying — demanding — of Hamas that it stop hiding behind civilians, that it lay down its arms, that it surrender. This is over tomorrow if Hamas does that. This would have been over a month ago, six weeks ago, if Hamas had done that. 

"And how can it be that there are no demands made of the aggressor and only demands made of the victim?"

Indeed, as we see played out all too often these days, it is those who've been wronged who are called on to "do right," while those who've done wrong are given a pass. That "soft bigotry of low expectations" will be the undoing of us all.