As Israeli bombs are pounding Gaza, the US is standing firmly behind its ally. President Biden on Thursday said the bombing campaign that has killed over 100 people is not a “significant overreaction.”
“I have my intelligence community, the Defense Department, as well as the State Department … in contact with all of their counterparts, not only in Israel, but in the region, and one of the things I have seen thus far is there has not been a significant overreaction,” Biden said.
Israel’s bombing campaign began on Monday after rockets were fired out of Gaza in response to the ongoing violence against Palestinians in East Jerusalem. The first barrage of Gaza rockets did minimal damage, only leaving one Israeli “lightly injured.” Israel responded by carrying out a series of airstrikes in Gaza that killed 20 Palestinians, including 10 children.
As of Friday morning in Gaza, 113 Palestinians have been killed by Israeli airstrikes, including 13 children. In Israel, seven people have been killed by rocket fire, including one child.
US officials have been calling for a “de-escalation,” but Israel shows no signs of slowing down. “The question is how do we get to a point — they get to a point — where there is a significant reduction in the attacks, particularly the rocket attacks that are indiscriminately fired in the population centers, but I expect I’ll be having some more discussions,” Biden said on Thursday.
On Wednesday night, Israel rejected a ceasefire offer from Hamas and approved a plan to intensify airstrikes indefinitely. Late Thursday, Israel started what Israeli media described as “the heaviest strikes yet,” as air and ground forces bombarded northern Gaza. So far, it appears no IDF troops have entered Gaza and are only attacking from the Israeli side of the border, but a ground invasion is reportedly being planned.
Israeli officials are warning that the brutal siege is far from over. While the IDF was readying plans on Thursday, Israeli Defense Minister Benny Gantz said “Gaza will burn” if Hamas rockets continue to be fired.
Like other Israeli officials, Gantz is portraying the ongoing violence as the result of Hamas refusing to stop firing rockets. But the ceasefire Israel rejected on Wednesday was an offer from Hamas to halt attacks on a “mutual basis” with Israel, a proposal that got little attention from Western media.
It’s clear Israel is using this latest flare-up as an opportunity to launch a full-scale offensive against Gaza, and judging by Biden’s comments, the US is fully behind it.
Lick-spittle.
No kidding Israel’s rejection of the ceasefire offer got scant coverage. Also lacking coverage are the US vetos to discuss this at the UN Security Council. The big news is we sent an envoy. Sent an envoy.
Yeah. An envoy, which will hit their knees, in private, when they meet with Bibi.
The entire scenario was planned, premeditated, for one purpose: take more lands from Palestinians in the occupied territories (which make it illegal because Israel is the occupier), kill more Palestinians.
Our politicians are so frightened of AIPAC, it is beyond disgusting. “America the Great”. So laughable. A handful of Zionists control our government, which means we are controlled.
The Palestinians will go the way of Native Americans did on this continent, and we are paying for it, supporting it.
UNR 181 remain the only internationally recognized borders of the 2 states.
The plan called for Arab (Palestinian) area to be chopped up. There was never a plan for a contiguous area for them. Why would the Palestinians or Araba agree?
The current assault by settlers involves the same procedure.
The New York Times: https://www.newyorker.com/news/news-desk/the-map-of-israeli-settlements-that-shocked-barack-obama
are you sure about the 181 borders ?
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_Nations_Partition_Plan_for_Palestine
I actually saw the ceasefire referenced in a headline on The Young Turks but when I went to click on it, I couldn’t get to the segment. Mind you that was on Facebook and I didn’t go to their website. I can see FB suppressing that.
It’s not an overreaction if you compare it to Israel’s brutality every time it decides to empty the shelves of their munitions on people packed like sardines who can’t adequately defend themselves. And isn’t it shocking that the Israeli counterparts to our intelligence community, defense department and state department say it isn’t an overreaction? And please do tell us what counterparts in the “region” are also on board with this not being an overreaction. No way in hell do they have any more knowledge than what was fed to our counterparts by those same Israelis Biden referred to. But you can throw bullsh*t out there when it concerns Israel without having to worry about anyone fact checking that bullsh*t.
So it IS an overreaction, and a crazy one.
Of course it IS.
The bombing of civilians is a typical fascist reaction when the oppressed oppose state repression and institutional violence.
Typical communist and general tyrannical too.
Crazy, like a fox is crazy. This has been planned, right down to the ground assault.
Bombs will not make a sufficient number of Palestinians move, a ground assault, with air firepower will.
Secretly, Biden, will ask AIPAC, “did I do well, say the right things?”
Just because it’s planned doesnt mean it’ll go as planned. The Palestinians will try to fight a ground assault. But I guess the outcome depends on external intervention.
The Palestinians will get no help. Many will die. Paid for by you and I.
Hezbollah? Someone mentioned at Moon of Alabama comments that maybe the Houthis would get involved.
Really. The Houthis are kind of busy defending themselves from Saudi Arabia’s assault and Yemen’s regime. Their most striking headline grabbing feats seem to have been faciliated with Iranian help, and Iran does not dare give Israel the excuse it needs to launch a nuke at them, or get the US to start a war with them. Most of the neighbourhood has been wooed / paid off by the Trump Administration’s “diplomacy” and those that haven’t have their own problems (Syria, Iraq, Lebanon). Hezbollah rarely gets involved unless Lebanon itself (an economic basket case since 2019) is attacked. Gaza’s neighbour Egypt is currently run by the same regime as when the “Pharaoh” was in charge since the democratically elected government was overthrown a year or so after the Arab Spring, so no help forthcoming there. The list of allies is the thinnest it’s been in over a decade. No-one came to the rescue last decade during the last incursion. Between the Trump moves and the coronavirus also taking a toll everywhere else, what makes you think anyone will do anything now?
Data is less controlled now than perhaps ever. People are seeing shocking videos. There are attempts at controlling the Internet, but it’s just not as complete as when people would just turn on the tv and radio.
It’s tough to tell a conservative white to trust US institutions when the US is angry at them (us), and it’s really conservative whites who are most guilty of blind faith in US institutions. There has been a shift, but liberals naturally don’t trust unless it’s serving one of their biases.
We’ll see.
There has certainly been a shift among Americans and their attitude towards Israel in the last decade. I find it odd, though, that you imply liberals are the ones predominatly supporting Israel relatively without question.
That’s not quite what I meant.
Currently, US institutions, especially the media, are persecuting American conservatives to a degree, though certainly nothing like what’s seen in Palestine. This persecution makes conservatives less trusting of US institutions.
So, there could be a change there. Potential for change exists.
Currently, liberals/left are most critical of Israel, yes. I’m sorry if my post was poorly written.
Same old story. The people Gaza rebuild and Israel bombs them back to the stone age.
The last gasp effort of Netanyawho to stay in power, with the attack on the mosque accompanied by the ethnic cleansing.
If not him, there are others in Israel with the same plan.
Netanyahu might be more effective than alternatives. Replacing him might turn out well.
No doubt about that. It’s Netanyahu or “Gaza will burn” Gantz. They’ll try to outdo each other brutality wise.
Bibi doing his best Trump impersanation:
“We will hit them with strikes they have never dreamed of” Netanyahu said as he announced the assassination of senior Hamas commanders earlier on Wednesday.
During the last election cycle there were no decent choices with regard to foreign policy. For reasons of their own the Democratic Establishment forced the worst of a bad lot on us. Biden is a clueless and not-too-bright warmonger. He always has been.
There is no point of my raging about this – there is nothing at all I can do which will cause him or the bipartisan Congressional Apartheid state a@@ kissers to change their ways.
Trying to inform a few of my friends and relatives about the real situation may keep my blood pressure from spiking.
Reasons of their own? Tulsi was driven out the Dem Party. The reason is both parties are on the payroll.
You shouldnt get too stressed. The US is currently supporting similar things all over the world. It would kill you to constantly stress over it. Ukraine, Yemen, Syria, Iran, Venezuela, Kashmir (indirect support), Burma, North Korea. Sanctions are very bad. Kosovo is still screwed up.
Bad things happen, but the US shouldnt be behind everything. No one is forcing the US, the US isnt made safer, no US interest is served. It’s just bipartisan evil backed by most organisations and companies in the US and Europe.
There never is. Any candidate that doesn’t genuflect to the Deep State insofar as enlarging the American Empire, gets pilloried by them, along with all the warmongering candidates and the media.
Ron Paul, Rand Paul, Tulsi Gabbard – for example. The rest of the candidates go into their war-whoops on stage to gang up on the peace candidate and naturally the so-called moderator(s) join in the lynching.
Trump seemed significantly less imperial, at times. Supporters fought furiously to get him elected. His early speeches were about helping MidEast Christians and better relations with Russia. Opposition to Iraq was also fairly early.
The Pauls needed to promise more free stuff to get elected. People fear they’d lose SS, for one thing.
For whatever reason, Paul the Younger has chosen to ally himself with crazy. Picking fights with Dr. Fauci about shit he knows nothing about, for example, and even long before that. Trump himself is a chimera with no real core values except for enriching himself and his family. While he may genuinely not be interested in an empire, he was perfectly happy to encourage people to believe he won an election he clearly lost, and expressed “love” for violent people who attempted to interfere with and ultimately overturn the results of a free and fair election–and they’re still trying in Arizona, as we speak. And while he told those people he “loved” to go home, he claims there’s a “witch hunt” prosecuting them. At the time he also said the people behind the violence were Antifa (he couldn’t say BLM for obvious reasons). So which is it? He loves his MAGA supporters who tried to overturn the election but the ones misbehaving weren’t really them, but someone else. Seriously, there’s no coherence when it comes to that man. You can always find something he said, once, that you like. Because he’ll say literally anything to get your support. I’ll say this for him: he’s probably the greatest con man who has ever lived.
In fairness, Fauci is a dangerous quack who constantly reverses himself, then claims, as an excuse, that he was lying before he did so.
Yes, at times. It just depended on who was in the room with him at any particular time. I also remember early speeches with him condoning torture, keeping Gitmo filled, bragging about his loyalty to Israel and about how he was the most militaristic candidate running. Very Christian like, right?
His even earlier speeches were different. The lobby bought him before you saw him it seems.
Torture didnt seem like a big deal if there were no wars. And the US already tortures (including outsourcing it); just denies torture. So, it actually wasnt very significant. Anyway, you dont read what anyone writes anyway.
Really? Please enlighten me. The lobby wasn’t influencing anything Trump said before or after he became president. His promise of undying loyalty made that unnecessary
The point about torture isn’t about whether we are torturing anyone, it’s about what kind of a man would advocate it. Same with talking about killing family members of terrorists or filling up GITMO. It speaks volumes about the kind of man Trump is. And if I don’t read what anyone writes, how is it that I’m replying to you?
Biden doesn’t know the definition of Overreaction…!
Biden is underreacting to Israel’s strikes in Gaza. He is a lot like Trump and Obama.
Why don’t they just go in and get rid of Hamas and incorporate Gaza into Israel and let all the people there vote in Israeli national elections? Wouldn’t that be kosher for the only “Western style democracy” to do?
Even Bernie Sanders is against doing that. If you want a one state that tolerates Muslims and Christians, then you’re portrayed as an extremist/radical etc. Diversity is supposed to be good for Europe and the US but dangerous for Israel.
It would if Israel genuinely were such a thing. Israel has always been the Jewish State first, a democracy second. It wants to have its cake (the land) and eat it too (refuse the right of the return of refugees who fled the territory in the firt place, never mind offer votes to the people they’ve been bombing for decades). Israel claimed to have “left” Gaza when they removed the settlers. In reality, they control the borders and the port. It’s the definition of dictatorship: control of the land and the movements of its people without representation. The same applies to the West Bank, which still has settlers, and to Jerusalem, which is now being ethnically cleansed. It’s maddening.
What might his “Intelligence people” be telling him that makes this terror bombing not an “overreaction”? …that Hezbollah had smuggled in more qassams? …Iran evaded the Israeli blockade with a shipment of portland cement? …maybe some medical supplies got through? …or anti-Zionist school books with maps showing Israel within the ’67 borders? ….are these the Intelligence people that gave us all the “slam dunk’s” -Iraq, Iran, Syria, Libya…?
the same CIA Gina Haspel types who enjoy torture so passionately?
Doesn’t matter where you stand on the conflict. I don’t see how you can call bombing apartment buildings and killing children not an overreaction.
Right, it’s just sickening.
And Gaza Tower. But Americans probably still think US bombing of Al Jazeera offices by the Americans (twice, in Afgahnistan and again in Iraq), was justified, because they actually show uncensored pictures of Arab victims. Of course, this time, the AP got bombed too.
when you start killing people for what they think, you’ve lost
Sorry to say that Hamas cannot dictate when Israel will accept a ceasefire. They cannot lob literally thousands of rockets at israeli civilian targets and expect to escape undamaged. Unfortunately, this happens every few years. Israel will stop when Hamas has been hurt to the extent that they will need a few years to regroup and rearm.
The Israelis said today that they won’t stop till Hamas stops. Well, you cannot do that till one side offers a ceasefire. Hamas did that. Israeli refused to accept it. What do they want, the right to keep killing kids for a few days after Hamas stops retalitating?
Please. Israel makes every effort to avoid civilian casualties. Unfortunately Hamas plants their weapons and hides their fighters in schools mosques and hospitals. This is a cynical attempt to either deter israeli retaliation or to incur Palestinian casualties which plays well to world media.
You’re either very naive, or Hasbra isn’t paying you enough to get you to make a real effort. Where were Hamas hiding in the Gaza Tower along with al Jazeera and the Associated Press? Which ofthe refugees in the camp actually Hamas in disguise?
I don’t understand. Israel brought down this tower after warning the owner of the building and all the occupants. It is for this reason that there were no casualties. I don’t remember the last time Hamas warned Israeli civilians that they were sending missiles their way. Do you?
“I don’t remember the last time Hamas warned Israeli civilians that they were sending missiles their way. Do you?”
The last time? Not sure. I know they did so at least as recently as May 5.
Those benevolent Israelis. That’s why there is only a 20 to 1 difference in the amount of deaths caused including 58 children and 34 women at last count.
And no warning on this one. 10 dead. 2 women and 8 children. That’s equivalent to the total killed in Israel thus far
“A local resident said the Israelis dropped three bombs on the house without warning, giving the residents no chance to leave.”
https://news.antiwar.com/2021/05/14/israel-bombs-civilian-home-in-gaza-killing-8-including-6-children/
I’m sure you’d be happier if the casualty toll was equal or greater on the israeli side. Too bad israel invests in bomb shelters and iron dome defensive missiles. The hundreds of millions that go to Hamas are used to build many kilometres of underground tunnels and offensive missiles. Many times more German civilians died than British civilians during the 2nd world war. That doesn’t make the German position any more righteous.
Twisting my words won’t work. I responded to you claiming Israel is the good terrorist and Hamas is the bad terrorist. And give Hamas the 3.8 billion instead of the hundreds of millions(?) and we’d see who would be building underground tunnels and investing in offensive missiles.
No twisting of words. I hear your argument all the time. Seems like people are ok with dead Jews. The problematic Jews are the ones that defend themselves. And you could give Hamas 10 billion dollars. It would only end up in the pockets of the thugs running the show in Gaza. Mrs Arafat is living in Paris with a few hundred million in her bank account that her husband stole from his devoted people
There’s a serious problem in the Arab world that has nothing to do with Israel. It’s nice to have someone to blame though.
There are certainly some people who are “OK with dead Jews.”
There are likely a few of them still here, but they’ve learned to behave themselves a little bit and not come out and say that.
I’ve never been under the impression that wars r u.s. is one of those people. He or she seems more like one of the people who doesn’t want any dead people, period.
You’re right that there’s a serious problem in the Arab world.
And it’s very, very similar to the serious problem in the Israeli world.
Thank you. And it’s he.
It was a general statement made, not specifically about wars r u.s. I don’t know him and have only read his responses to me here. There is no comparing Israel to her neighbours. Assad has murdered over 400,00 Syrians. Iran and their disciple Hamas openly state their goal to eliminate Israel. In fact the Hamas charter calls for the genocide of the Jewish people. Israel has problems. However, she has done remarkably well considering the challenges she faces by living in such a hostile environment.
The main difference between the Israeli regime and those of Syria, Iran, or Saudi Arabia is which ethnicities and religions are favored and which are suppressed.
Oh, and that some of those other regimes don’t caper around masquerading as “liberal democracies” while censoring the press, banning anti-regime political parties, denying the vote to substantial percentages of the people they rule, etc.
You are obviously not very familiar with the israeli press, some of which is extremely hostile to the government. Some publications are anti Zionist and propose the dissolution of the state. You may not be aware of the fact that Israel banned the Kach party, a radical Jewish right wing party. ALL israeli citizens can vote in elections. I assume you’re referring to Arabs living in the West Bank who are, of course, not citizens. Israel has a loud, vibrant democracy. There are Arab members of parliament. The United Arab List Party headed by Mansour Abbas held the balance of power in this most recent election. They might have been decisive had a war not broken out. There is an Arab Supreme Court Justice. There are inequalities in israeli society, but not in the law just as there are inequalities between different groups in all western democracies).
“You are obviously not very familiar with the israeli press.”
Other than reading it every day, you mean?
Most recent statistics I’ve seen from the Israeli Military Censor is from 2018 — 363 articles prohibited outright, 2,712 redacted. See also Section 173 of the Israeli criminal code, which imposes jail terms for “publish[ing] an advertisement that may blatantly offend the faith or religious sensitivities of others.” The regime also requires all journalists to register with the Government Press Office, and denies accreditation to outlets it wants to shut down (for example, Al Jazeera). Israel ranks 88th on the World Press Freedom Index.
Yes, I’m aware that some of the political parties that have been banned (or simply been forbidden to have candidates on ballots) have been ultra-Zionist parties.
“ALL israeli citizens can vote in elections.”
True. But the people living under Israeli occupation aren’t considered citizens. They just get to do as they’re ordered, or be killed.
I’m not saying Israel is the worst country on Earth or anything. It’s just another typical ethno-religious apartheid garrison shithole like many others.
“It’s just another typical ethno-religious apartheid garrison shithole”
When you write stuff like this, I realize that you have never seen the country. You seem to have no idea what Israel is about short of your cliched, anti-Israel rhetoric.
It’s too bad.
I don’t have any “anti-Israel rhetoric” to dispense. I’m an anarchist. Israel is a state, and not a special one. Do the math.
How would “seeing” the country change anything? Will Palestinians no longer be “cockroaches”?
It seems someone is lost. This is the Antiwar website. Hate, racism, and propaganda are not welcomed here. Those dead Syrians include Syrian soldiers and civilians. They were killed by terrorists supported by the US and Israel to conduct a regime change in Syria. Plenty of Arab monarchs are left to teach about democracy. Why focus on poor Syria? Peace.
What are you talking about? Most of the Syrians were murdered by Assad and Hezbollah. That’s not hate or racism. If you love Syria you should hate Assad and those who support him
You did an opinion poll in Syria? Makes perfect sense. The majority of Syrians must support Assad and keep re-electing him because he murders them. It sounds like you know about stuff. My neighbor has a perfect lot for you in Louisiana. If you’re not interested in swamp land, he has a bridge for sale in Alaska. Just call: 888-not-antiwar-are you?
Don’t need an opinion poll. Assad won 89% of the vote in 2014 because his people adore him. He’s a butcher and you probably work for him. Go post on baath.com.
No, I don’t work for anyone. I love people and don’t want them to die from starvation or war to satisfy warmongers. This is why I follow antiwar.com. The Syrian people don’t deserve to starve and die because you think their President is a “dictator.” But before I forget, why do you follow Antiwar.com?
The more interesting question is why you would follow and post on antiwar.com when you obviously support a mass murderer like Assad
Almost everyone who follows and posts on Antiwar.com supports one mass murdering government or another.
Maybe. But given the plethora of truly evil regimes in history, pacifism
Is immoral.
Exactly the rhetoric from warmongers who support mass murder of Syrians, Palestinians, Libyans, Iraqis, Russians, Chinese, etc. They have no shame and repeat the same warmongering propaganda against all these countries. They are barking up the wrong tree by posting warmongering propaganda on an antiwar website.
You did an opinion poll in Syria? It makes perfect sense. The majority of Syrians support and re-elect Assad because he murders them. Sounds like you know about stuff. My neighbor has a perfect lot in Louisiana for you. If swamp land not for you, he has a bridge in Alaska. Just call his number: you-are-not-antiwar-are-you?
I’m a pacifist. I catch and release insects from my house. Of course I have more respect for them than Israeli leadership. Or Hamas leadership for that matter. But you go ahead with your fantasies.
“And you could give Hamas 10 billion dollars. It would only end up in the pockets of the thugs running the show in Gaza.”
Easy fix. Make them spend it on military hardware like we do with Israel’s annual 3.8 billion. Then they could level some high rises and we could call that self defense and veto any condemnation coming from the UN security council.
Right, and when I shoot a bullet in a sardine can I’m doing everything possible not to hit a sardine.
Biden wants to win over Trumpista white supremicist voters, their simpathisers and extremist and the woke by the next election, he is copying Macron.
Not all Trump voters are Jewish supremacists.
The white supremist in the US are not Jewish only 20% of Jews voted for Trump.
I’m not really seeing that. Care to elaborate?
White Christians are the biggest propagators of white supremacist ideologies and the Israeli right in the United States. Unlike what many suggest 80% of US Jews do not support the Israeli right or the US right. Biden basically gets at least 80 of the US Jewish vote without any aid to Netanyahu. Biden is Playing the to white evangelicals the same as Trump. He thinks that he needs their support in the next election. There is one problems with this, they are one of the most racist groups in the United States.
https://www.nbcnews.com/think/opinion/racism-among-white-christians-higher-among-nonreligious-s-no-coincidence-ncna1235045
Do commenters here, not writers, have to associate war/violence with “right wing”? That seems rather unfair, unless it’s just done to appeal to certain readers. Mao, Lenin, Trotsky, Weather Underground, Antifa, etc. plenty violent and clearly left. French Revolution…
Yes, there are left wing violence/wars as well as right wing violence/wars. There are wars/violence on both sides of the fence.
Part of why “conservatives” in the US get things wrong is we lack info. Israel is foreign; we barely know even just US history. No easy access to info.
Almost no one knows that Jerusalem was once an international city, which is actually a great idea. It’s holy to at least 3 religions. I’m reading articles right now on the conflict, and really even professional writers dont know the details. It’s not just money. We’re ignorant.
Having a US embassy in Jerusalem for the entire region, making the city into a sort of neutral Switzerland, might be a neat idea.
It’s the problem of “either or” thinking rather than “both and”. There is no reason whatsoever that Jerusalem cannot be a city with two capitals. I have met people who think the conflict irresolvable because “Palestinians want a state inside Israel”. Evidently they’ve never heard of San Marino, Lesotho, Kalinigrad, their own First Nations areas in the US (“reservations”), other states that are basically buffers (Andorra)…
Oh, the primary reason I believed things would be different this time is the attack on the al Aqsa Mosque. Even though it was supposedly only a tree burning, there’s a video of a huge number of Jews dancing at the West Wall celebrating and singing a shocking song. In the video, it looks like the mosque itself is on fire, and those singing look young and geeky, meaning they look weak.
It just seemed like such a shocking thing to me; it seemed like the sort of thing which would unite Muslims in anger.
The double standard is surprising, comparing such videos to the reaction that would take place in the US.
Biden can burn in Hell.
Is this statement is Presidential,well,maybe not,we know it when we read it and we will see the deep meaning.
He says he has his own intelligence,but Russian Bounty Story appearantly wasn’t real, and based on that story made speache, so how we will have confidence as a ordinary folks that he has trust intelligence but failed and,now, Putin is number 1 powerful enemy,and as far as we know,he is
Equally powerful, hopefully not more powerful then Americans.
All it takes now; to how to start nuclear power and destroy the enemy without giving a chance to retaliation!
Perhaps creating fake Cyber Country and directing response of nuclear retaliation on that fake country in space ?
If this possible,it’s official I already patented design and technology.
We in the “civilized world” learn from each other:
General Moshe Dayan: ‘Israel must be like a mad dog, too dangerous to bother.’
Nixon’s madman diplomacy: https://www.wilsoncenter.org/event/nixons-nuclear-specter-the-secret-alert-1969-madman-diplomacy-and-the-vietnam-war
Trump’s madman diplomacy: https://foreignpolicy.com/2020/08/22/trump-madman-review-sciutto/