A top US official admitted that the White House had made some missteps in how it has handled the Israeli slaughter in Gaza. President Biden has shipped 25,000 tonnes of weapons to Israel per Euro-Med Human Rights Monitor, and refused to place any conditions on the aid the US provides to Israel. The unfettered support has allowed Israel to conduct a genocidal military campaign that has killed tens of thousands of Palestinian civilians and pushed hundreds of thousands into famine.
On Thursday, Jon Finer, a deputy national security adviser, told Arab American leaders in Michigan that Biden had made “missteps” in handling Gaza and that Israel had no intentions of allowing Palestinian statehood. The aide made the remarks during a closed-door meeting, but an audio recording was leaked to the New York Times.
“We are very well aware that we have missteps in the course of responding to this crisis since Oct. 7,” Finer said. The Times did not report if the aide explained what Biden believed his missteps were.
The mistakes Finer admitted Biden had made are rhetorical, such as not issuing a faster condemnation of calls for genocide from Israeli government officials. Many top Israeli government officials, including Prime Minister Netanyahu, have made remarks that have incited the genocide in Gaza.
After the meeting, participants in the meeting were dissatisfied because Finer would not agree to any policy changes. The US has provided Israel with near-daily weapons shipments that allow the Israeli forces to continue fighting. Washington has refused to condemn any Israeli actions, even well-documented war crimes.
Biden’s full-throated support for the Israeli onslaught in Gaza has harmed Biden’s reelection chances. His approval rating is plummeting, and about half of his 2020 voters believe Israel is committing a genocide in Gaza. During campaign rallies, Biden has often faced protesters calling him “genocide Joe.”
The Michigan meeting was an effort to shore up Biden’s Arab-American base in a battleground state. Participants said the meeting was intense. The Arab-American attendees were disappointed that the White House was still unwilling to commit to calling for a ceasefire in Gaza.
Finer also told the attendees that Washington was committed to a Palestinian state but that Tel Aviv would not accept it. “Will Israel be willing to do the hard thing that’s going to be required of them, which is meaningful steps for the Palestinians on the question of two states?” He added, “I don’t know if the answer to that is yes. I do not have any confidence in this current government of Israel.”
Kyle Anzalone is the opinion editor of Antiwar.com, news editor of the Libertarian Institute, and co-host of Conflicts of Interest.
Another words, we’ve f**ked up and continue to do so…!
More complete:
They fucked up and they don’t give a shit what we think about it.
That’s also true.
No they don’t and why should they? It’s not as if the American people have any impact on foreign policy, no matter who they put in office the “military-industrial-congressional-intelligence-MEDIA-academia-think-tank complex,” or MICIMAT as Ray McGovern updated it, just keeps bomb, bomb, bombing along.
Well you have to give them credit for consistency. An estimated 500K dead and maimed in Ukraine and known dead, buried in the rubble and maimed in Gaza upwards of 100K. But that’s just a drop in the blood bucket, since the “War on Terror” began >4.5M are dead, many millions more displaced (Brown, 2023.) The US is swimming in Blood and Biden, as chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee and then VP, has been in the bloody waters for all of it.
Rightly someone quipped “every time I vote for change and I keep getting John McMcCain,” for as we saw with Trump the War Machine marches to it’s own drum – how many times did he order troops be pulled from Syria?
“If the two parties are so diametrically opposed why does the US follow the same path no matter who is president?”
– Caitlin Johnstone
Putin told Tucker, in the USA agencies make the policies, the CIA, the state department, and DOD, not the president.
Only the lowest IQ voters believe that now.
Wait! “Lowest IQ voters?” Did someone change our label without our consent?
She’s a jewel isn’t she, along with a rare few, providing hope for the future of journalism. But then a lot more needs to change for journalism to change, lol, how brief optimism 🙂
“No matter who you vote for you get John McCain.” — Tom Woods
Sounds like the whole administration is suffering dementia big time.
“we’ve f**ked up and continue to do so…!” – that is their strategy.
It was decided decades ago that the Palestinians had a RIGHT to their own State and Israel can go pound sand, they have NO say in a Palestinian State. Israel is committing War Crimes, Netanyahu is a Terrorist and his soldiers are Genocidal Monsters. Finer thinks he is talking to dummies, insults them with Israel says it doesn’t want a Palestinian State, REALLY! Israel does NOT make the decision, they are the Occupiers, they are the ones with ILLEGAL Settlements, they are the ones murdering/butchering women and children. Nobody wants to hear what Israel says, they are RACIST and Mass Murderers. Biden is just sending his losers to talk to Muslims, like it is going to make a difference, WRONG. Muslims/Arabs/Free People/Americans/Christians, need to find a Third Party Candidate to get behind NOW and help that person win. Israel will be ruling America if Biden, RFK Jr or Trump win, Humanity will not survive, America will not survive. I saw an interview on Al Jazeera with Cornel West, someone I have not cared for, but it is informative and worth watching.
They want to shore up the Arab-American voter base, admitting, yes, they made mistakes but they will not change anything but they want their votes for Biden. If that is not insane, what is?
Arabs not voting is a vote against the Blighten Administration.
Missteps in all directions: Gaza, Ukraine, Taiwan, Mexico border.
FJB
We’ve been participating in war crimes including ethnic cleansing, but we’re not apologizing for that, nor are we going to do anything to rectify that.
Missteps… an interesting description of direct participation in wholesale slaughter of close to 30,000 human beings and counting…
Any questions?
You said it – their using the word is actually really angering: the US continued refusal to admit its ghastly crime; and the insulting, feckless, attempted-gaslighting of the word to get votes.
Missteps?
“ Hind Rajab, a six-year-old Palestinian girl who went missing after the family’s car came under Israeli fire, was found dead along with the two medics dispatched to look for her.”
https://www.aljazeera.com/news/liveblog/2024/2/10/israels-war-on-gaza-live-death-toll-nears-28000-as-rafah-assault-looms
Putin did it to make our bombs look dumb.
It is difficult to be proud to be an American when FJB is deliberately destroying the country and our relationships around the world.
Sheeple, wake up! We need to undo the damage caused by the illegitimate FJB regime.
This sort of partisanship is based on a real failure to understand the US Uniparty system and the fact that foreign policy is almost completely bipartisan.
And he didn’t say the other party would save the country…!
I think it’s implied.
To be fair, I merely inferred from this and other posts by this poster that s/he is a Trump supporter, so maybe not a big fan of the mainstream Republicans (if there are any left).
I could certainly be wrong. If so, I apologize, but I’m really fed up with Americans who think elections change our foreign policy in general, much less our warmongering, much, much less our Middle East policies and actions in service to Israel.
I was thinking Trump also. And I’ve seen it with every conflict we are involved in. This wouldn’t be happening if Trump were in office.
Putin said out loud what we already know but don’t say loud, the president is not in charge, he does as told by the agencies in charge, starting with the CIA, the neocons in state and DoD and the big money that put them there. They are the real power.
I think they are in control in Europe too, how else could we have so much incompetence on both sides of the Atlantic? Geopolitical economics makes it possible. I know it sounds crazy but we do live in crazy times.
What makes you think your analysis is crazy rather than sadly unamerican or traitorous?
Because it feels like being lost in an insane asylum with not a single adult in the room.
I get that feeling, too.
I think the Owners are the real powers and that they exercise their power on a continuing basis through the permanent government (among other channels). They more or less own the parties and presidency, also, but effective ongoing control flows through the permanent government/blob/deep state/bureaucracy.
And the well paid ignoramuses, the idiots in DC, London, Berlin, and Paris protect the real Owner powers, to which the Clintons, Bidens, Obamas, Bushs, Cheneys and others belong. The Kartell that meets in Davos every Jan.
Missteps? If it looks like Genocide, promote the ICJ judge from Uganda who supports the continued Israeli Genocide of Palestinians.
You’ve gotta be blind to miss your steps…!
Ok, here’s the plan. We’ll meet with the Arab American leaders in Michigan and tell them that we have made missteps in our handling of the Gaza slaughter, that Israel has no intention of allowing Palestinian statehood and that we have no confidence in this current government of Israel BUT we aren’t going to do a damn thing regarding changing our policy. Should work, right?
Later on, they could just say that there was a detailed plan to make the necessary changes, but the president forgot.
Missteps? What the Biden Administration is taking about is that they did not do a sufficient job in covering up the crimes unfolding. Genocide Joe and posse could not get Aljazeera to turn their cameras off. May as well forget about getting the U.S.A. to do the ethical thing.
What has to happen is Egypt and the other quisling Arab states need to either host the displaced Palestinians in their country such that Israel cannot not flat out murder them or starve them to death, or step up to the plate and actually protect the Palestinians and their Lands with the butts of their guns; or rather hypersonic missiles. Israel, aka Pscyo-killer Nutandyahoo, and Genocide Joe are not swayed by feints. The only thing they understand is bullets and bombs.
My guess is as Nutandyahoo is getting ready to attack Rafah, he’ll move the Palestinians north to where there really is no access to food and water, and will let them starve while the world watches on.
Western Officials in protest over Israel Gaza policy: More than 800 serving officials in the US and Europe have signed a statement warning that their own governments’ policies on the Israel-Gaza war could amount to “grave violations of international law.”
The “transatlantic statement”, a copy of which was passed to the BBC, says their administrations risk being complicit in “one of the worst human catastrophes of this century” but that their expert advice has been sidelined.
The statement is signed by civil servants from the US, the EU and 11 European countries the UK, France and Germany. (BBC State Department correspondent, Tom Bateman, February 2, 2024)
Good first step yet probably not enough to avoid genocide charges when the trials get going.
When others do it it’s a crime when the US does it it’s a mistake or as it’s nowadays a misstep.
I can’t remember the US ever admitting to a mistake, Iraq still has WMDs in some circles, “missteps” may actually be progress 🙂
“Biden Admin Admits to ‘Missteps’ in Handling Gaza Genocide…
…except for the singlehanded and ongoing US enabling of Israeli genocide part.
That’s like saying I shot the Sherif but I didn’t shoot the deputy.
I write my representative and senators an email at least once week and call also. I also write an email to Genocide Joe and Kamala. I tell them it’s plausible Israel is committing war crimes and genocide and that means it’s plausible the Biden administration is aiding and abetting genocide which would make Biden a war criminal.
I know they don’t care, but I keep doing it because if enough do, they may reconsider their unwavering support for war crimes and genocide. I guess I sound like braindead Biden; “Are the Houthis going to stop? No, but we will continue.” ☠️💥💀
I informed the local democrats that I will not vote for war criminals, no money and no vote from me. Biden is a war criminal. Their ads to vote and donate for Biden end up unread in my garbage can.
“I know they don’t care, but I keep doing it because if enough do, they may reconsider their unwavering support for war crimes and genocide. I guess I sound like braindead Biden”
1/ I write regularly too – got the email links all set up, send the same letter.
2/ This is important, not at all wasted effort, even if yr apparently ignored. My view:
a/ Such acts are not just about persuasion now – though – like the mainly progressive Democrat-driven marches – manifestations of citizen will are important because – on the most basic ‘democratic contract’ level – they declare voter will, and raise the prospect of losing the election for antidemocratically rejecting that will;
b/ no – to come back to my point – as well as exerting pressure now, in the quite possible event that the Democrats lose in November, it is vital that there be a highly visible record of ‘ignored warnings.’
Why? Because – to put it simply – arguably, historically, within the Democratic Party, the previously bipartisan ‘Israel consensus’ is fracturing, and it is important that this is fully comprehended by the Democratic Party, including the right liberal parts of its electorate: that, in the future, the Democratic Party can no longer win on an AIPAC-aligned, ‘pro-Israel’ platform.
After Biden’s recent performance it should be clear to everyone, but the most hardcore DNC supporters that Biden is not the one calling the shots. As RFK, Jr. recently noted having a mentally incapacitated Biden increases the power of the entrenched bureaucracies.
He ought to know since he’s a puppet of Shmuley Boteach.
A puppet? That seems a reach given that the Israel/Palestine such a small part of his campaign. I think a more accurate depiction would be that Shmuley Boteach was brought on to burnish his image with Jews after the bioweapon gaffe about targeting certain genetic profiles.
Translation: Please Arab Americans still vote for us while we can still continue to kill more Palestinians!
The Third Reich committed “missteps” you see…
Yeah, I recall they didn’t alter their policies either. Perhaps they did weigh the options at one point, considered changing course and then didn’t really saw a need to.
Well, at least admitting that they were wrong is indeed a nice step forward? I guess…
No forward motion… Just a steady state condition unfortunately…!
29,000 Palestinians killed , half of them children but it`s just a miss step .