US politicians step up condemnation of Israel over Gaza
Connecticut Democrat Chris #Murphy, a member of the Senate foreign relations committee, warned that Hamas was likely to become stronger if Israel waged an all-out assault in Rafah.
“I want #Hamas gone,” Murphy said. “I don’t want them to ever have the ability to hit Israel again. ⭐️[But] I worry that the number of civilians that are dying are ultimately going to provide permanent recruiting material to Hamas, and it will be a threat for years to come.
“We cannot have an invasion of Rafah that ends up in tens of thousands of additional civilians dying. ⭐️That will be bad for Israel from a moral and strategic standpoint.”
He continued: “So I am certainly willing to call out Israel when I think that they have made strategic and moral mistakes in this war. We should [also] be calling out Hamas for the attacks that began this war, the way in which they have violated the rules of engagement, and the fact that the quickest route to end this war is for Hamas to surrender and protect the people of Gaza.”
Murphy’s comments amounted to some of the strongest criticism yet by a centrist US politician against Israel, which the Gaza health ministry said on Sunday had now killed more than 35,000 people in strikes since the 7 October attacks by Hamas.
Stronger condemnation came from Vermont Democratic senator Bernie #Sanders, a member of the party’s progressive wing.
“Any objective observer knows Israel has ⭐️broken international law … has ⭐️broken American law – and in my view, Israel should not be receiving another nickel in US military aid,” he told NBC’s Meet the Press, adding that Hamas was “a terrible, disgusting terrorist organization that began this war”.
Meanwhile, #Blinken’s commentary was considerably more measured. In an interview with CBS’s Face the Nation, the Joe Biden White House’s top diplomat said it is “reasonable to assess that in certain instances Israel acted in ways that are⭐️ not consistent” with international humanitarian laws.
Blinken’s comments on Sunday came after #Biden threatened to ⭐️stop supplying Israel with weapons if it invaded Rafah.
That came as the White House said the US had stopped the transfer of 3,500 high payload “dumb” bombs over concerns of the growing number of civilian casualties in Gaza.
Blinken stopped short of explicitly accusing Israel of violating international law as it pursued its offensive against the Palestinian militant group Hamas.
He said it was “critical” to note that Israel itself has accountability processes – and there were hundreds of active inquiries as well as criminal investigations into different incidents, showing Israel had “the ability, means and the actions to self-correct.
“It had been very difficult to determine, particularly in the midst of war, exactly what happened and to draw final conclusions from any one incident,” he said, adding that the US was avoiding any firm assessment over a potential breach because Hamas “hides behind as well as underneath civilian populations, in schools and hospitals”.
US threatens to block more arms sales if assault on Rafah goes ahead
The US may block more weapons systems to Israel if it goes ahead with a ground offensive in the southern Gaza city of Rafah, the US secretary of state, Antony Blinken, has said.
The US has already suspended the shipment of 3,500 2,000lb (907kg) and 500lb (227kg) high-payload bombs following concerns over the scale of civilian casualties in Israel’s war in the territory.
Blinken also said he was concerned that any further ground captured by Israel would create a vacuum “that’s likely to be filled by chaos, by anarchy, and ultimately by Hamas again”.
Add comment