Israel is in a tough spot these days.

Oh, Hamas isn’t really a challenge for the Israeli military, but Hamas isn’t just going after military targets, now are they?

They’re also going after innocent civilians. Their issues aren’t with the military or government, but the Jewish people as a whole.

Which is why Israel wants to buy a bunch of M-16s from the United States. The problem is that President Joe Biden is dictating who they can go to.

Israel requested to purchase “thousands” of M-16 rifles following Hamas’ attack on unarmed Jews, the Free Beacon noted. The New York Times reported that Israel sought to acquire 24,000 “assault rifles” from the U.S.

“But the Biden administration would not approve the sale until Israel guaranteed the critical weapons would not reach civilian outposts in the West Bank, which the Biden administration and its Democratic allies view as occupied territory,” the Free Beacon report added.

Biden’s demand suggests his administration “is succumbing to pressure from its far-left flank, which is pressing Israel to enact a ceasefire and accusing the Jewish state of carrying out a genocide as it defends itself from Hamas terrorists operating in the Gaza Strip.”

The rifles are vital to Israel’s own defense and that of its people.

The Times reported that about 500,000 Israelis live in the region, a small fraction of the 2.7 million Palestinians there.

And regardless of whether anyone thinks they should live there, the fact is that they do and they’re at risk.

Hamas attacked kibbutzes and a music festival on October 7th. Sure, they attacked at least some military targets, but they attacked a lot of civilian targets specifically. As such, Jews living in the West Bank have reason to believe they might be targeted, and yet President Biden doesn’t want American guns ending up in their hands.

But that shouldn’t be shocking, now should it?

After all, he’s done everything he could during his time in office to keep American guns from ending up in American hands, so why should Israel be different?

While the above quote attributes this to far-left, pro-Palestinian pressure from within his own party, we need to remember that Joe Biden isn’t a fan of self-defense. Sure, he’s offered his own tactical advice over the years–shooting through the door, for example, or up into the air to scare off someone as another–but the truth is that he doesn’t see the right to the means of self-defense as a good thing.

From the moment he took office, he’s done everything he could to cement his place as the most anti-gun president in history, and I think he has.

The ultimatum he’s laid down to Israel here–that they either keep these guns out of civilian hands or they don’t get to buy them–is really just an extension of his own anti-gun biases.

And contrary to what he may say on the campaign trail, it’s clear that he doesn’t see self-defense as a valid thing. He can’t; not if he’s going to try to deny thousands of Israelis the ability to defend themselves from ruthless terrorists.