Jim Geraghty of National Review Online pans President Biden’s response to Israel’s war on Hamas.
Wednesday afternoon, President Joe Biden announced that the U.S. was withholding a pending shipment of 2,000-pound and 500-pound bombs to Israel, and that he was preparing to withhold additional shipments of artillery shells. This is in addition to Biden’s earlier decision to delay selling Israel 6,500 joint Direct Attack Munitions — kits that enable unguided bombs to be steered to a target.
Biden is attempting to strong-arm Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and the Israeli government into ceasing their operations against Hamas in Rafah in the Gaza Strip.
“If they go into Rafah, I’m not supplying the weapons that have been used historically to deal with Rafah, to deal with the cities,” Biden told CNN’s Erin Burnett. “I’ve made it clear to Bibi and the war cabinet, they’re not going to get our support, if in fact they go on these population centers,”
Biden insisted, “We’re not walking away from Israel’s security; we’re walking away from Israel’s ability to wage war in those areas,” blithely ignoring the fact that the Israeli war cabinet unanimously agreed that waging war in Rafah is essential to Israel’s security. Biden is once again insisting to people in the crosshairs of Hamas that he knows how to fight Hamas better than they do. …
… Biden is the president who warned, “When terrorists don’t pay a price for their terror, when dictators don’t pay a price for their aggression, they cause more chaos and death and more destruction,” and who promised, “Make no mistake: The United States will make sure that Israel has what it needs to defend itself.”
And now Biden is loudly and proudly cutting off certain forms of military aid to Israel.
Biden is also the president who pledged he would stand with Ukraine as long as it takes.
