Despite having gone a bit week in the knees recently, Joe Biden is still getting “pushback” from inside his own walls over his ongoing support of Israel. And it’s not all coming from the Squad, either. The latest instance comes in the form of a letter signed by more than 400 staffers and appointees spread across dozens of federal agencies. The signatories objected to Biden’s support of the Jewish state and “demanded” that he call for an immediate ceasefire in Gaza. They also want him to “demand” the immediate release of the hostages and “arbitrarily detained” Palestinians, along with a resumption of normal water, food, and fuel supplies to Gaza. The authors of the letter further claim that their demands are supported by “an overwhelming majority of Americans.” I have to wonder where they’re getting their news. (National Review)
More than 400 staffers and political appointees across 40 government agencies sent a letter to President Joe Biden on Tuesday objecting to his administration’s support for Israel and demanding that he push for an immediate cease-fire between the embattled Jewish state and Hamas.
The message also cited a poll showing that 80 percent of Democrats, and a majority of independents and Republicans, somewhat or strongly agree with the sentiment. “The overwhelming majority of Americans support a cease-fire.” Many of the signatories are in their 20s and 30s, reflecting a generational divide over U.S. policy toward Israel. “Americans do not want the U.S. military to be drawn into another costly and senseless war in the Middle East,” the letter concluded.
A separate message arrived this week on a “dissent channel” in the State Department. A large number of people supported a complaint organized by Sylvia Yacoub of the Bureau of Middle East Affairs. The missive blasted Biden for his “seemingly full endorsement” of the Israeli response to the Hamas terror attacks and accused him of being “complicit with genocide” in Gaza.
I would love to know what color the sky is in whatever world these people are living in. First of all, Israel is our ally, not our slave state. We don’t “demand” how they should respond to an attack and expect them to simply obey. Bibi Netanyahu has made his position clear. It’s not within Joe Biden’s power to force him to act otherwise. And if either Biden or Netanyahu had the power to suddenly force the release of the hostages, don’t you think they would have done so already? Negotiations are ongoing, but we’re negotiating with people who cannot be trusted.
As to the “arbitrarily detained Palestinians,” those are Hamas fighters who don’t wear uniforms and those found to be giving them material support. I can assure you with great confidence that they are receiving much more humane treatment than anyone being held by Hamas. Even if Joe Biden were magically able to force their release they would simply return to the battlefield and kill more Israelis. The poll that the letter’s authors cite actually shows that the “overwhelming majority of Americans” support Israel over Hamas. Yes, a lot of them would like to see the war end (a natural impulse) but I doubt a lot of them understand all the complexities involved in what’s going on.
At The Daily Wire, Virginia Kruta points out another disturbing element in the ongoing dispute between the White House and the State Department. It turns out that Antony Blinken responded to the State Department cable and almost sounded conciliatory, telling the objectors that he is “listening” to their input.
Secretary of State Antony Blinken addressed the dissent within the State Department, saying in a memo to staffers, “I know that for many of you, the suffering caused by this crisis is taking a profound personal toll. The anguish that comes with seeing the daily images of babies, children, elderly people, women, and other civilians suffering in this crisis is wrenching. I feel it myself. Some people in the Department may disagree with approaches we are taking or have views on what we can do better.”
What’s actually happening here is a case of executive branch officials echoing the pro-Hamas propaganda that’s making the rounds in much of the legacy media, both at home and in Europe. ‘Think of the children. Think of the babies. How can you support these monsters?’ In reality, the IDF just went into two hospitals in northern Gaza where they found Hamas headquarters and terror tunnels, but they also brought in baby formula, other food, medicine, fuel and supplies. That’s a boatload more than those hospitals have gotten from Hamas, even though they are sitting on stockpiles of all of those supplies in their network of tunnels.
Hamas actually wants the Palestinians on the surface to suffer because they know the media will dutifully do their public relations work for them. And the press is doing that job even as we speak. These cables from federal workers and State Department staff show that the PR campaign is working perfectly. Let’s just pray that Biden doesn’t go completely weak in the knees in response.
