Biden knew Israel was bombing indiscriminately – WaPo — RT World News

The Washington Post reported Monday that the White House had known since late October that Israel was regularly bombing civilian targets in Gaza, but President Joe Biden continued to publicly defend the IDF's behavior.

On October 27, three weeks into Israel's war with Hamas, senior Biden administration foreign policy officials told a small group at the White House that “Israel has been regularly bombing buildings without reliable intelligence that they are legitimate military targets.” The newspaper wrote, citing three sources familiar with the meeting.

Officials also expressed concern that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu does not have a clear plan to defeat the Palestinian militant group, with one source telling the newspaper that “From the beginning, there was a feeling that we didn’t know how the Israelis would do what they said they would do.”

At the time, the United States was rushing to provide military aid to Israel. Two weeks before the meeting, Biden visited the Jewish state and announced this publicly “As long as the United States stands…[Israel] “I won't be alone.” On the same day of the meeting, White House National Security Council spokesman John Kirby told reporters that the United States would not impose anything. “Red lines” About how Israel conducted its military campaign.

The meeting did little to change the rhetoric of Biden or his officials. The president did not criticize Israel for the repeated bombing of the refugee camp in early November. Likewise, the White House publicly supported Israel's decision to bomb Gaza's largest hospital later that month, with Kirby telling reporters that Hamas had hidden a command center under the facility.

But behind the scenes, American officials were concerned that the Israelis might view such a statement as a threat “green light” The Washington Post reported that the attack on the hospital. Democratic Senator Chris Van Hollen told the newspaper he was there “Some disconnects” Between what Kirby said and what US intelligence reports actually showed, without providing further explanation.

Growth medium discontent Among his own voters, Biden has since become more critical of Netanyahu. Early in January, the US president claimed it was “Working quietly with the Israeli government to get them to downsize and significantly exit Gaza.” but, “When those talks went nowhere, U.S. officials offered little public rebuke and no clear consequences.” The newspaper's sources said.

“At every turn, Netanyahu gave the finger to Biden.” So is the Biden administration,” Van Hollen told Axios in January, announcing the Biden administration “He pleads with Netanyahu’s coalition, but is repeatedly slapped in the face.”

On Friday, Netanyahu announced that he had approved plans to attack the city of Rafah in the southern Gaza Strip. Rafah currently houses more than a million Palestinians displaced from other parts of the Strip, and Biden told MSNBC earlier this month that an Israeli operation there would cross the border. “Red line.”

Biden partially retracted his comments moments later, telling MSNBC that Netanyahu had said so “He has the right to defend Israel.” But it must “Pay more attention to the innocent lives being lost.”