Patterico's Pontifications

4/4/2024

President Biden Cautions Prime Minister Netanyahu

Filed under: General — Dana @ 1:06 pm



[guest post by Dana]

President Biden had a strained conversation with Prime Minister Netanyahu on the heels of seven World Central Kitchen aid workers killed by Israeli military forces. (WCK head José Andres said that “he believed the seven aid workers killed by the strike in Gaza were targeted “systematically, car by car.” An investigation is underway.)

“President Biden emphasized that the strikes on humanitarian workers and the overall humanitarian situation are unacceptable,” the White House said in a statement. “He made clear the need for Israel to announce and implement a series of specific, concrete, and measurable steps to address civilian harm, humanitarian suffering, and the safety of aid workers. He made clear that U.S. policy with respect to Gaza will be determined by our assessment of Israel’s immediate action on these steps.”

Additionally:

John F. Kirby, a White House spokesman, said the president wants to see “concrete tangible steps” to reduce the violence against civilians and increase access for humanitarian aid to Gaza. He said the White House expects Israel to make announcements of specific changes within hours or days.

But Mr. Kirby would not outline specific metrics for judging Israel’s response or what Mr. Biden would do if not satisfied. “What we want to see are some real changes on the Israeli side and, you know, if we don’t see changes from their side there will have to be changes from our side,” he said.

Hamas should be feeling pretty encourage right about now.

—Dana

59 Responses to “President Biden Cautions Prime Minister Netanyahu”

  1. Hello.

    Dana (8e902f) — 4/4/2024 @ 1:11 pm

  2. April 3, 2024

    One of the strongest voices inside the White House urging an end to civilian casualties in Gaza is the person closest to the president: Jill Biden.

    At a meeting with Muslim community members at the White House on Tuesday evening, one guest told President Biden that his wife had disapproved of him coming to the meeting because of Mr. Biden’s support for Israel in its war against Hamas.

    Mr. Biden replied that he understood. The first lady, he said, had been urging him to “Stop it, stop it now,” according to an attendee who heard his remarks.

    Salima Suswell, the founder of the Black Muslim Leadership Council, recounted the scene in an interview, adding that she had scribbled down the president’s statements because it was so striking to hear that the first lady felt strongly about the conflict.

    Quick work, Jill.

    BuDuh (4214e4) — 4/4/2024 @ 1:18 pm

  3. One, Biden is a coward, both with Russia and Hamas.

    Two, Hamas needs to be destroyed, the sooner the better, so Israel should be reticent to take any act that prolongs their existence, such as a unilateral ceasefire.

    Three, there can’t be a true ceasefire unless Hamas also ceases fire, which they won’t.

    Four, a ceasefire helps Hamas, on multiple fronts. They’re better able to re-arm, and they’ll be diverting humanitarian aid to their benefit.

    Five, Netanyahu may be the wrong leader for his war, but he needs to ignore Biden’s dithering and finish the job. On to Rafah.

    Paul Montagu (d4d407) — 4/4/2024 @ 1:26 pm

  4. Israel should leave no stone unturned in Rafah. Raze it.

    Rip Murdock (d2a2a8) — 4/4/2024 @ 1:48 pm

  5. Kirby with the quote of the day, after questioning from Peter Doocy…

    On October 7, we didn’t see thousands and thousands of innocent people killed.

    Might want to circle back on that one, Admiral…

    https://twitter.com/CurtisHouck/status/1775966831762637202

    SaveFarris (79ab12) — 4/4/2024 @ 2:00 pm

  6. I will add a couple of comments as well:

    1. I left this one on a similar post over at NRO: At a bare minimum, the White House should be demanding that Hamas unconditionally return all of its hostages as a mandatory step that must be completed before any ceasefire negotiations can begin. But the Biden Administration is far too stupid and weak to stand behind that.

    2. Another NRO piece quotes a Senator Peter Welch of Vermont (I didn’t recall ever hearing of him before, but I guess he’s the clown who replaced Patrick Leahy) opining that this FUBAR situation is “more tragic evidence that the way the Netanyahu government is conducting this war is terribly wrong.” I went to read Sen. Welch’s online biography to determine where his military expertise in the Middle East comes from, but apparently he’s spent his whole life as a left-wing activist, an ambulance chasing lawyer, and for 30 out of the last 40 years an elected official at some level of government. Then it dawned upon me: Sen. Welch isn’t looking at the IDF’s campaign in Gaza through a military lens, he’s looking at it entirely through a political lens. And I guess that’s why our nation no longer has too many leaders who can steer us through tense military engagements.

    JVW (b02843) — 4/4/2024 @ 2:04 pm

  7. I am concerned that the hostages being freed is not a priority, or worse, somewhat forgotten. Conveniently so. That is obviously the priority of Israel, but only Israel, and that is obviously going to prevent anything like a ceasefire from happening. It’s disappointing that the administration has followed the lead of pro-Palestinians.

    Dana (8e902f) — 4/4/2024 @ 3:47 pm

  8. “he believed the seven aid workers killed by the strike in Gaza were targeted “systematically, car by car.” An investigation is underway.

    There were multiple strikes by drone. This was confirmed by a Gazan group, who, this time, had their safe conduct honored, as it usually is.

    Paul Montagu (d4d407) — 4/4/2024 @ 1:26 pm

    Three, there can’t be a true ceasefire unless Hamas also ceases fire, which they won’t.

    They won’t even agree to one,exceot under unacceptable terms – unacceptable even according to Biden because Biden says that those responsible for October 7 must be turned out to Israel, and the hostages also, without conditions.

    Five, Netanyahu may be the wrong leader for his war, but he needs to ignore Biden’s dithering and finish the job. On to Rafah.

    It’s not Netanyahu, except that he is leaving too much of the war to the generals – the same people who let October 7 happen. They’ve got a reputation for knowing what to do to uphold and they’ve got blame to deflect.

    Biden needs to stop being influenced by Hamas propaganda, which is corrupting people’s judgement. At the same time, he needs to get Israel to properly diagnose the problem, and offer to send people over (hopefully the right ones) and see what’s going on.

    It may be targeting that is essentially being done by AI.

    That wouldn’t have happened at the hospital. No civilians or patients were killed in the second attack on al-Shifa hospital. Interestingly, it was reported that in the hospital itself they got more surrenders and less fighting to the bitter end than in the buildings on the periphery. Maybe they went slower and gave them more time in the important parts of the hospital grounds. Partly because they really, really didn’t want to destroy more important infrastructure (the maternity ward and emergency room wasn’t actually in use any more but occupied by Hamas.)

    especially at night, or when the battlefield gets complicated and humans are overwhelmed, AI probably gets used more, or used with less supervision and deliberation.

    The upper echelons of the military, which is anti-Netanyahu. and its allies in politics, wants to get the blame placed on Netanyahu, rather than the professionals, for October 7 and for anything else. It could be so bad that some people in the Israeli military might deliberately not be correcting bad systems – all to get rid of Netanyahu. But this must be found out.

    Benny Gantz the other day called for elections by September. There’s a lot of maneuvering going on. There are stupid demonstrations going on in Israel. Plus creating a government crisis about the drafting of yeshiva students.

    Sammy Finkelman (1d215a) — 4/4/2024 @ 4:03 pm

  9. Dana (8e902f) — 4/4/2024 @ 3:47 pm

    I am concerned that the hostages being freed is not a priority, or worse, somewhat forgotten.

    There were those in the IDF, particularly in the early days, who wanted to write off the hostages. They wanted full speed ahead.

    It’s disappointing that the administration has followed the lead of pro-Palestinians.

    It’s somewhat typical of both the Obama and the Biden Administrations in foreign policy, particularly with regard to Iran, to want to make compromises with reality.

    Sammy Finkelman (1d215a) — 4/4/2024 @ 4:07 pm

  10. 6. JVW (b02843) — 4/4/2024 @ 2:04 pm

    Senator Peter Welch of Vermont (I didn’t recall ever hearing of him before, but I guess he’s the clown who replaced Patrick Leahy) opining that this FUBAR situation is “more tragic evidence that the way the Netanyahu government is conducting this war is terribly wrong.”

    Again, it’s Netanyahu, Netanyahu, Netanyahu. It’s not Netanyahu.

    It’s the career professionals.

    Sammy Finkelman (1d215a) — 4/4/2024 @ 4:11 pm

  11. The pro-Palestinian propaganda which is influencing me is from the New York Times and it’s pictures of women and children surrounded by rubble. I don’t like to see that, and six months is too long for me to hold a mad and disregard that these are people.

    I have no solution. But with every day that goes by I am less and less comfortable with my country taking part in that cruelty.

    nk (bb1548) — 4/4/2024 @ 4:26 pm

  12. There is nothing quite like Americans trying to micromanage another country’s war from halfway around the world during an election year.

    norcal (73161b) — 4/4/2024 @ 4:30 pm

  13. Next up: Trump will come out and say how he can end this war in 24 hours*.

    *Of course, he won’t provide any details as to how he will accomplish this, just as he never provides details for his outlandish claims, whether it’s the Ukraine conflict, eliminating the national debt, or replacing Obamacare.

    norcal (73161b) — 4/4/2024 @ 4:51 pm

  14. I hate it when Trump appropriates my policies:

    Trump says Israel has to get war in Gaza over ‘fast’ and warns it is ‘losing the PR war’

    In an interview with conservative radio host Hugh Hewitt, Trump said that Israel is “absolutely losing the PR war” and called for a swift resolution to the bloodshed.

    “Get it over with and let’s get back to peace and stop killing people. And that’s a very simple statement,” Trump said. “They have to get it done. Get it over with and get it over with fast because we have to — you have to get back to normalcy and peace.”

    nk (bb1548) — 4/4/2024 @ 5:02 pm

  15. F’n DrUMph!!!!

    norcal!! Thank you so much for bringing him up on this thread!! Yeah!! Hell YEAH!

    (My dad used to tell this joke about why he disliked atheists… all they wanted to do was talk about God.)

    BuDuh (2165ed) — 4/4/2024 @ 5:03 pm

  16. Trump gets it, and if he does not his advisors do. Americans, and I’m proud to count myself among them, do not like to see people getting kicked around for very long.

    nk (bb1548) — 4/4/2024 @ 5:07 pm

  17. From the link within norcal’s StUPid DrUMpH link:

    HH: But you are still standing 100% with Israel? You achieved the Abraham Accords, which was the first peace deal since Sadat.

    DJT: Right.

    HH: And so are you still 100% with Israel? And what’s your advice to Netanyahu beyond get it over with in a hurry?

    DJT: Well, that’s all the advice you can give. I mean, that’s the advice. You’ve got to get it over with, and you have to get back to normalcy. And I’m not sure that I’m loving the way they’re doing it, because you’ve got to have victory. You have to have a victory, and it’s taking a long time. And the other thing is I hate, they put out tapes all the time. Every night, they’re releasing tapes of a building falling down. They shouldn’t be releasing tapes like that. They’re doing, that’s why they’re losing the PR war. They, Israel is absolutely losing the PR war.

    HH: That’s how I read your interview. I read your interview as saying they’re losing the PR war. They’ve got to stop releasing bad video and win the war by going into Rafah.

    DJT: They’re releasing the most heinous, most horrible tapes of buildings falling down. And people are imagining there’s a lot of people in those buildings, or people in those buildings, and they don’t like it. And I don’t know why they released, you know, wartime shots like that. I guess it makes them look tough. But to me, it doesn’t make them look tough. They’re losing the PR war. They’re losing it big. But they’ve got to finish what they started, and they’ve got to finish it fast, and we have to get on with life.

    What an idiot!!! We need Biden!!!

    BuDuh (2165ed) — 4/4/2024 @ 5:09 pm

  18. Oops!!

    My apologies nk. I was too quick on the draw.

    Full retraction.

    We have been doing very well here and I hate to muck it up by this unforced error.

    BuDuh (2165ed) — 4/4/2024 @ 5:11 pm

  19. From the link within norcal’s StUPid DrUMpH link:

    BuDuh (2165ed) — 4/4/2024 @ 5:09 pm

    What link? And who is being stupid?

    norcal (73161b) — 4/4/2024 @ 5:14 pm

  20. I think Israel’s strategy in releasing so much video of their campaign in Gaza is to preempt what would otherwise be ridiculous claims by Hamas and their media allies that bombs are falling directly on women and children. In a lot of ways, Israel is in a no-win mess: if they keep quiet then the worst sort of blood libels are bound to spread, but when they release actual footage then it gets misrepresented by their antagonists.

    Noah Rothman makes a good case for how general ignorance of artillery and modern weapons-guidance makes Israel’s assault on Gaza sound much worse than it really is:

    Those 2,000-pound bombs have vexed critics of Israel’s war for months. After all, 2,000 pounds is a lot of pounds. The ordnance leaves massive craters in the wake of their detonation. Not “since Vietnam” has so much heavy ordnance been used so often and in such a densely populated area as Gaza, one CNN analysis maintained. “It certainly appears that [Israel’s] tolerance for civilian harm compared to expected operational benefits is significantly different than what we would accept as the U.S.,” said onetime State Department adviser Larry Lewis — an assessment that conflicts with national-security spokesman John Kirby’s.

    The view expressed by [Ben] Rhodes and other like-minded critics of Israel’s war is predicated on the assumption that 2,000-pound ordnance are so destructive that they serve no military utility other than to terrorize a civilian population. “In an area this densely populated and using these bombs, it’s inherently indiscriminate,” CNN reporter Nima Elbagir averred in December. That is simply false. As a comprehensive piece by David Adesnik and Mark Montgomery in the latest issue of Commentary explains, these weapons have profound battlefield utility. And depending on how they are used, they can even limit collateral damage.

    Adesnik and Montgomery outline the best practices for the use of 2,000-pounders developed by the U.S. Air Force. They can “destroy only the upper floors of a building” to neutralize sniper positions, for example, or be deployed at a 30-45-degree angle to ensure the whole structure doesn’t collapse. “U.S. pilots employed the tactic often enough for it to acquire a nickname: ‘kneecapping,’” they write.

    The authors add that even the Washington Post was forced to concede — albeit in a “caveat” that appears “exclusively in an appendix” of an article on these bombs — that the collateral damage they can produce is a function of how they are used. “Damage depends on nearby structures, building materials, the soil, whether a bomb has been set to explode above or below ground, and other factors,” the Post’s addendum read. “Experts also noted that even the largest munitions can be employed to ensure that nearby civilian infrastructure is not damaged or is minimally affected when they explode.”

    No surprise there: ignorant journalists serve the interests of nasty despots in order to strike a blow against a conservative government that they find distasteful.

    JVW (b02843) — 4/4/2024 @ 5:32 pm

  21. Perfectly understandable, BuDuh.

    nk (bb1548) — 4/4/2024 @ 5:44 pm

  22. I was with my family over Easter. My dad is retired military and one of the things he did was, um, targeting related. He took one look at the exploded aid workers car video and said that it was unmistakeably purposeful. That there was no way anyone guiding that strike could’ve hit them by mistake. Make of that what you will.

    My concern about the whole conflict is that the main chess pieces are mostly in other countries and all Israel is doing at this point (probably already having removed most of the incountry Hamas infrastructure) is killing pawns and angering the international community.

    Nic (896fdf) — 4/4/2024 @ 5:47 pm

  23. Despite the Biden Administration’s handwringing over Gaza, there is no evidence that the administration has cut off military aid to Israel; in fact quite the opposite.

    The United States has quietly approved and delivered more than 100 separate foreign military sales to Israel since the Gaza war began Oct. 7, amounting to thousands of precision-guided munitions, small-diameter bombs, bunker busters, small arms and other lethal aid, U.S. officials told members of Congress in a recent classified briefing.
    ……..
    But in the case of the 100 other transactions, known in government-speak as Foreign Military Sales or FMS, the weapons transfers were processed without any public debate because each fell under a specific dollar amount that requires the executive branch to individually notify Congress, according to U.S. officials and lawmakers who, like others, spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss a sensitive military matter.
    ……….
    “That’s an extraordinary number of sales over the course of a pretty short amount of time, which really strongly suggests that the Israeli campaign would not be sustainable without this level of U.S. support,” said Jeremy Konyndyk, a former senior Biden administration official and current president of Refugees International.
    ……….

    And it has continued:

    The Biden administration in recent days quietly authorized the transfer of billions of dollars in bombs and fighter jets to Israel despite Washington’s concerns about an anticipated military offensive in southern Gaza that could threaten the lives of hundreds of thousands of Palestinian civilians.

    The new arms packages include more than 1,800 MK84 2,000-pound bombs and 500 MK82 500-pound bombs, according to Pentagon and State Department officials familiar with the matter. …….

    The development underscores that while rifts have emerged between the United States and Israel over the war’s conduct, the Biden administration views weapons transfers as off-limits when considering how to influence the actions of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

    “We have continued to support Israel’s right to defend itself,” said a White House official. “Conditioning aid has not been our policy.”
    ……….
    The increasingly public spat has not dissuaded Biden from rushing weapons and military equipment into the conflict. Last week, the State Department authorized the transfer of 25 F-35A fighter jets and engines worth roughly $2.5 billion, U.S. officials said. The case was approved by Congress in 2008, so the department was not required to provide a new notification to lawmakers.
    ………..

    Even if some of the actual transfers won’t occur for years (such as the F-35 fighters), the fact that the Biden Administration hasn’t cancelled the transactions speaks to fact the Biden Administration has refused to kowtow to its left wing.

    Rip Murdock (d2a2a8) — 4/4/2024 @ 5:56 pm

  24. He took one look at the exploded aid workers car video and said that it was unmistakeably purposeful. That there was no way anyone guiding that strike could’ve hit them by mistake. Make of that what you will.

    I don’t think anyone doubts that the IDF targeted those WCK trucks. The question is whether they knew what they were targeting. The IDF had been in contact with WCK and knew when and where the trucks were making the rounds, but the delivery that they attacked was done in the darkness of night and it might have been hard to see the WCK logos. Still, we will likely find out that the IDF should have known about this convoy, though it isn’t out of the question that WCK failed to communicate it in advance. But if I had to wager, I would guess this is just incredibly regrettable human error rather than actual malice.

    JVW (b02843) — 4/4/2024 @ 6:05 pm

  25. My concern about the whole conflict is that the main chess pieces are mostly in other countries and all Israel is doing at this point (probably already having removed most of the incountry Hamas infrastructure) is killing pawns and angering the international community.

    That is of course a legitimate issue, but Israel has had some success in killing the masterminds of the attacks as well as some nasty high-ranking Hamas operatives in nations like Syria and Lebanon.

    JVW (b02843) — 4/4/2024 @ 6:10 pm

  26. Added to post: Hamas should be feeling pretty encourage right about now.

    Israel is not helping itself by killing the seven aid workers. I read that there is an increasing concern about young IDF troops. They are hung-ho and operating with little discipline. Officers are unsure of how prevalent this is, but judging from the awful videos they’ve posted, it’s happening enough that disciplinary action needs to start ramping up.

    Dana (8e902f) — 4/4/2024 @ 6:13 pm

  27. JVW @ 25,

    While you’re correct, I guess I want to know how and by whom the subsequent vacuum of power will be filled?

    Dana (8e902f) — 4/4/2024 @ 6:14 pm

  28. Israel needs to go full war and end Hamas, permanently.

    How many drove strikes did Obama, Bush kill innocents with?

    That’s war.

    NJRob (23cd49) — 4/4/2024 @ 7:10 pm

  29. NJRob: don’t get me wrong, I agree with most of your positions here, and I’m sure you’re a really likeable guy in person.

    But sometimes, like your comment at #28 above, you sound a bit like a real-life version of Larry Linville’s Frank Burns. 🙂
    (Gen-Xers like me and older here will know what/who I’m talking about.)

    Still waiting for you to say to Rip, “nertz to you!!” 😉

    qdpsteve again (7e84f9) — 4/4/2024 @ 7:24 pm

  30. But if I had to wager, I would guess this is just incredibly regrettable human error rather than actual malice.

    Neither Israel nor the IDF is a monolith and there is a minority of those in power in Israel who would like nothing better than to drive the Palestinians into the sea (just as that is Hamas’ goal for Israel).

    I see it as likely that someone arranged for this mistake to happen, to send a message to those bringing aid into Gaza. The politics here are complex.

    Kevin M (a9545f) — 4/4/2024 @ 7:37 pm

  31. What I wonder is how Netanyahu’s troubles might be prolonging this war.

    It seems likely that there will be elections shortly after the war, and that the ruling coalition will have to answer for their failures. I doubt that Netanyahu has another recovery left in him. Is he going to widen the war to stay in power?

    One can support Israel while also thinking that Benjamin Netanyahu is a long-term disaster.

    Kevin M (a9545f) — 4/4/2024 @ 7:43 pm

  32. Kevin M, I’m not sure who’s had more comebacks: Netanyahu or Cher.
    😉

    qdpsteve again (7e84f9) — 4/4/2024 @ 7:55 pm

  33. Clarification:

    My comment at 12 was not directed at any commenters here, but rather the people being quoted in Dana’s main piece.

    norcal (8124b5) — 4/4/2024 @ 7:59 pm

  34. Steve,

    I am blunter on here to try and wake people up a bit. Hamas would murder every Israeli if they could. They don’t care. Biden only cares about votes, not doing what is right or necessary.

    NJRob (eb56c3) — 4/4/2024 @ 8:34 pm

  35. NJRob, fair enough.
    Also let’s be honest: most of Biden’s “staffers” (i.e. hardcore SJWs) masturbate themselves to sleep at night, dreaming of Israel’s destruction.

    qdpsteve again (7e84f9) — 4/4/2024 @ 8:39 pm

  36. Update:

    IDF Chief Herzi Halevi, who was furious over WCK killings, decides to reprimand head of IDF Southern Command, Division 162 commander, Nachal Brigade commander.
    He also fires Nachal Bde chief of staff, and brigade fire support officer,

    Dana (8e902f) — 4/4/2024 @ 8:47 pm

  37. @36 Has netanyahu been fired yet? From the beginning I have posted that Israel has limited time to destroy hamas. The bottle deposit crook has delayed destroying hamas to stay in power as long as possible. He cares about being voted out of office with the rest of the likud gang and into a jail cell. The hostages are an inconvenience for him.

    asset (0c0305) — 4/4/2024 @ 9:10 pm

  38. It’s also concerning that the 1,300 killed by Hamas on Oct. 7 don’t even factor in to the current calculations by President Biden.

    Dana (8e902f) — 4/4/2024 @ 9:59 pm

  39. @38 How do you factor it in? 30,000 palestinians civilians mostly women and children have been killed who had nothing to do with the murder of 1.300 Israeli. Most americans say kill hamas fighters not women and children ;but the numbers dwindle as the number of children killed keeps increasing. I factored it in by advocating wiping out hamas not women children. I said do it as fast as possible and this why. As a lefty I saw this coming and kept saying hurry.

    asset (0c0305) — 4/4/2024 @ 10:20 pm

  40. He also fires Nachal Bde chief of staff, and brigade fire support officer

    This seems a bit much for a mistake. I think he found out it was more than that.

    Kevin M (a9545f) — 4/4/2024 @ 10:21 pm

  41. Dana (8e902f) — 4/4/2024 @ 9:59 pm

    Biden has backed Israel to the hilt where it counts. He may complain about Israeli strategy, but he hasn’t done anything about it. There is no evidence that the Administration has restricted delivery of weapons to Israel, no matter what Israel has done. Without our weapon deliveries, Israel couldn’t carry on the war as it has.

    And he has paid a political price for that support. If Biden was concerned about what Democrats thought about his support of Israel, he would have cutoff Israel a long time ago.

    Rip Murdock (3d201b) — 4/4/2024 @ 10:52 pm

  42. Still waiting for you to say to Rip, “nertz to you!!” 😉

    qdpsteve again (7e84f9) — 4/4/2024 @ 7:24 pm

    Probably because he agrees with what Israel should do in Rafah.

    Rip Murdock (3d201b) — 4/4/2024 @ 10:56 pm

  43. @41 Michigan, minnesota and wisconsin are clawing at biden’s campaign and it getting worse not better. Look at bien’s primary results and these are democrat voters.

    asset (0c0305) — 4/4/2024 @ 10:57 pm

  44. asset (0c0305) — 4/4/2024 @ 10:57 pm

    My point exactly-Biden being on the right side of history costs him votes.

    Rip Murdock (3d201b) — 4/4/2024 @ 11:36 pm

  45. @44 Biden is on the wrong side of democratic party history. The left now has allies in democrat muslims and black men are splitting from trump populism all the way to hard militant left. Like atlanta where armed black miltants and antifa were ready to confront the klan which ran away. Biden still has minority and older white pro-choice women. Younger democrats think biden is senile and like in 2016 vote green party or RFK jr. My support of Israel is not being shared by young democrats thanks to netanyahu antics.

    asset (0c0305) — 4/5/2024 @ 3:24 am

  46. The difference between the two parties:

    The Republicans want to go back to the 1950s.
    The Democrats want to go back to the 1970s.

    The voters dislike both ideas, but those are their choices.

    Kevin M (a9545f) — 4/5/2024 @ 6:18 am

  47. Israel should leave no stone unturned in Rafah. Raze it.

    Rip Murdock (d2a2a8) — 4/4/2024 @ 1:48 pm

    You can sell them the bombs. Or Russia can sell them the bombs. Or they can blow their trumpets and break their pots. As long as America does not give them the bombs. Or trumpets and pots.

    nk (bb1548) — 4/5/2024 @ 6:41 am

  48. Neither Israel nor the IDF is a monolith and there is a minority of those in power in Israel who would like nothing better than to drive the Palestinians into the sea (just as that is Hamas’ goal for Israel).

    It is the inevitable consummation, whether devoutly wished or not, of Israel’s Basic Law (that Israel is a Jewish Nation State) and the 1950 Law of Return (that every Jew has a right to emigrate to Israel) in that handkerchief-sized piece of land less than one-fifth the size of Arizona.

    No San Carlos big enough for the Palestinians and no Tom Jeffords either.

    nk (bb1548) — 4/5/2024 @ 7:00 am

  49. HH: But you are still standing 100% with Israel? You achieved the Abraham Accords, which was the first peace deal since Sadat.

    DJT: Right.

    Wrong, The peace treaty with Jordan came in between.

    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Israel%E2%80%93Jordan_peace_treaty

    Discussions began in 1994. Israeli Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin and Foreign Minister Shimon Peres informed King Hussein that after the Oslo Accords with the PLO, Jordan might be “left out of the big game”. Hussein consulted with Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak and Syrian President Hafez al-Assad. Mubarak encouraged him, but Assad told him only to “talk” and not sign any accord. U.S. President Bill Clinton pressured Hussein to start peace negotiations and to sign a peace treaty with Israel and promised him that Jordan’s debts would be forgiven. The efforts succeeded and Jordan signed a nonbelligerency agreement with Israel. Rabin, Hussein and Clinton signed the Washington Declaration in Washington, DC, on 25 July 1994.[5] The Declaration says that Israel and Jordan ended the official state of enmity and would start negotiations in order to achieve an “end to bloodshed and sorrow” and a just and lasting peace.[6]

    Sammy Finkelman (c2c77e) — 4/5/2024 @ 3:27 pm

  50. The co-ordination plan was not passed down through all he units if the Israeli army, This was also not the first time that aid came under attack or nearly so, They also once killed two telephone repair workers – and Israel wants the phone lines repaired (to eavesdrop presumably) And came close to killing telephone workers before,

    The trucks were attacked at 11:09, 11:11 and 11:13, One person carrying abag was identified as a Hamas fighter carrying a gun

    Sammy Finkelman (c2c77e) — 4/5/2024 @ 3:44 pm

  51. If Biden was concerned about what Democrats thought about his support of Israel, he would have cutoff Israel a long time ago.

    Rip Murdock (3d201b) — 4/4/2024 @ 10:52 pm

    Pro-Israel outnumbers anti-Israel (or more inclined to support a politician who is) by almost two to one,But Biden wants to please everyone,

    Sammy Finkelman (c2c77e) — 4/5/2024 @ 3:47 pm

  52. Among all voters.

    Sammy Finkelman (c2c77e) — 4/5/2024 @ 3:59 pm

  53. Biden and his State Dept are right to urge Israel to do better, but the Bidenistas are behaving as if the USA and the Biden Administration is above all of that when the truth is we’ve had our own dozens of errant strikes and brushed them off.

    August 29, 2021

    NY Times

    “No U.S. Troops Will Be Punished for Deadly Kabul Strike, Pentagon Chief Decides
    The military initially defended the strike, which killed 10 civilians including seven children, but ultimately called it a tragic mistake.”

    steveg (dd7c66) — 4/5/2024 @ 7:37 pm

  54. It’s not your granddaddy’s war.

    We’re not talking about footsloggers, themselves an instant’s away from death, crawling in the dust; smelling the blood and hearing the screams of the wounded, their comrades’ and the enemies’.

    We’re talking about Game Con nerds in ergonomic chairs playing video games and wishing they had better graphics and a bag of Cheetos to munch on as they guide drones and push buttons to launch Hellfire missiles.

    And they give the dweebs medals for it.

    nk (bb1548) — 4/6/2024 @ 6:44 am

  55. Ukraine hitting Russian oil facilities is hitting “civilian targets”. I agree. Some civilians of USA will vote against Biden if gas prices are high.

    steveg (478c0d) — 4/11/2024 @ 8:27 am

  56. Ukraine Foreign Minister at a NATO 75th birtday meeting take a piss on the festivities because his people are dying:

    ” “I’m sorry to spoil the birthday party, but who can believe that the mightiest military alliance in the world cannot find seven batteries of Patriots to provide them to the only country in the world that is fighting ballistic attacks every day?”

    steveg (478c0d) — 4/11/2024 @ 8:30 am

  57. Raytheon says it can build one Patriot system a month

    steveg (478c0d) — 4/11/2024 @ 8:30 am

  58. And they give the dweebs medals for it.

    But no “V”s

    Kevin M (a9545f) — 4/11/2024 @ 8:44 am

  59. Raytheon says it can build one Patriot system a month

    They could build a lot more if they wanted to.

    Kevin M (a9545f) — 4/11/2024 @ 8:47 am

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