President Biden told a Democratic lawmaker and members of his Cabinet after the State of the Union address that he told Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu that they will need to have a ā€œcome-to-Jesus meeting.ā€

Bidenā€™s comments, captured on a hot mic as he spoke with Sen. Michael Bennet (D-Colo.) on the floor of the House chamber, came after Bennet congratulated the commander in chief on his speech and pressed him to keep pressure on Netanyahu over increasing humanitarian issues in Gaza.

  • FuglyDuck@lemmy.world
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    9 months ago

    When did Biden ā€œpromise support for genocideā€?

    Oct 7^th WH press release

    thereā€™s numerous statements by Biden since then where Biden insists on ā€˜unconditionalyā€™ support for Israel.

    Biden is not in any way responsible for the October 7th terror attacks and war crimes (targeted killing of civilians, sexual violence and kidnapping, to name a few) that started this whole mess, Hamas (who are the ruling party of Gaza and have been for over a decade) are.
    Biden is also no in any way responsible for the Israeli response, nor is he in any control of the tactics used by the IDF in achieving their goals. Like every US President, real or imaginary, Biden will continue to support Israel because they are (a) our closest ally in the region (b) a home to many US citizens and a cultural site to many US jews, christians and muslims and Ā© under constant threat of attack from every angle by enemies who in some cases have vowed to ā€œwipe Israel of the mapā€ (to name a few, Palestine, Lebanon, Jordan, Syria and Iran).
    

    Youā€™re right. Biden is not responsible for how others respond. He is, however uttelry responsible for his own acts. Including facilitating and expediting arms sales- which he, himself, has gone out of his way to make happen.

    Despite what lemmy-think might have one believe, neither the UN, the ICJ, or any reputable organization have been able to show evidence that escalates what weā€™re seeing in Gaza to any kind of war crime, let alone ā€œgenocideā€. There are 2 million people living in Gaza, and if Israelā€™s goal was genocide weā€™d be seeing a lot more death and destruction than we are today. (Help elect Trump and I guess we might get a closer look at it.)
    

    Bull. Fucking. Shit.

    If the rampant devastation of Palestine isnā€™t enough of a clue, to the extent that half of the buildings in gaza are damaged or destroyed then perhaps you should look into statements by Netanyahu hismelf. Like how he described the second stage of the invasion as a ā€˜holy missionā€™, comparing it to Amalek- where the orders were to genocide everything. In the same speech he describes Gaza as a ā€˜Bastion of Evilā€™, and that the soldiers are ā€˜Obligated to Eradicate this Evil from the Worldā€™.

    Or maybe, from the Deputing Knesset Speaker, Nissam Vaturi whose tweets areā€¦ incendiary. Literally. with comments like ā€œwe are too Humane. Burn Gaza now,ā€ and perhaps, Pressiden Herzog who said "there are no innocent civillians in Gazaā€™; or perhaps the defense minister who vowed to eliminate everything.

    The Biden administration has been much more effective at delivering aid (by air and now by sea) to Gazans than the UN, Hamas or anyone else.
    

    Did I mention he went out of his way facilitating arms deals?

    Biden doesnā€™t want to see innocent civilians killed, be they Israeli Jews or Palestinian Arabs. Why would he?

    Yeah. I did mention the arms sales. I donā€™t know why. youā€™d have to ask him. (oh. I do know. heā€™s a zionist).

    Unlike Netanyahu and Hamas, Biden gains literally zero political benefit from the war. His life and his job would objectively be much easier if there was peace in the middle east. You know that as well as I do. In fact, Iā€™d say itā€™s plainly obvious to anyone with half a brain. This war is a drain and a distraction from the USā€™s resources ability to defend Ukraine from Russia, it makes the region (and thus, the world) less safe, and it is nothing but a political vulnerability to Biden. And still, there is not a serious politician in this country that would even consider removing support of Israel in the wake of the October 7th attacks, especially given a hostage crisis that is now entering its 6th fucking month.

    Youā€™re right that itā€™s a distraction from Ukraine and elsewhere. Ask yourself how Hamas got into Israeli systems and evaded detection on Oct 7th. by the way, Israeli cybersecurity is some of the best in the world. they had help, either from Iran, or Russia. As for what Biden has to gain from the War? nothing. But he does have something to loose.

    In other words, while youā€™re entitled to your subjective opinion that whatā€™s happening in Gaza amounts to a genocide or other war crimes, you canā€™t seriously blame Biden for any of it.

    I can blame him for supporting it though. which is what Iā€™m doing.

    If youā€™re looking for someone to blame here, look no further than Netanyahuā€™s government and Hamasā€“two entities that have repeatedly propped each other up as boogeymen in order to push their communities into the political fringe for the sake of power. Netanyahu literally funded and boosted Hamas, and Hamas has done everything to maximize civilian casualties (also a war crime, btw) on both sides of the conflict.

    I am represented by neither Hamas nor Netanyahu. I am represented by Biden.

    There have now been multiple reasonable ceasefire negotiations that the Biden administration has helped negotiate which Hamas has unilaterally rejected. The world is only waiting for Hamas to do what they should have done months ago: return the hostages, lay down their weapons, and turn over the war criminals and terrorists who made it their mission to rape, kill and pillage Israel on October 7th. The ball in unquestionably in their court, and it has been for months.

    The ā€œballā€ is unquestionably in the IDFā€™s court. and has been since Oct 8th. If the IDF is so god damn concerned about getting the hostages back, then why have they killed far more than theyā€™ve rescued?