The USA is putting increasing pressure on Israel: They are demanding strategies – to protect civilians in Rafah and for the period after the Gaza war. But not everyone in Washington agrees either.
At the weekend, US President Joe Biden blamed Hamas for the ongoing fighting in the Gaza Strip. There could be a ceasefire tomorrow if Hamas releases the hostages, he said at a campaign rally on the West Coast. In Washington, DC, however, Israel’s role in the conflict continued to be discussed.
There are two things that the US government expects from Israel at the moment. What is needed is a clear, credible plan for how civilians will be protected. “We haven’t seen it yet,” said Secretary of State Antony Blinken on CBS on Sunday. And second, Blinken said, the US government wants to see a plan for what will happen when the conflict in Gaza is over.
Blinken defended the US government’s course of putting pressure on Israel and dissuading it from attacking Hamas in Rafah. The operation there could be initially successful, but at an “incredibly high cost to the civilian population” and, according to Blinken, it might not be sustainable.
Plan for future government in Gaza with Saudi Arabia
“We are seeing Hamas coming back in parts of Gaza where Israel drove them out,” Blinken said, for example in the north. If the Israeli army leaves Gaza, a vacuum will be created that will likely be filled by chaos and anarchy and ultimately by Hamas again. According to the Foreign Minister, the USA has been trying for weeks to develop a plan for the future government and the reconstruction of the Gaza Strip with Saudi Arabia, among others.
Blinken also defended the US president’s decision to initially halt the delivery of thousands of heavy bombs to Israel because of the impact that dropping such bombs could have in densely populated areas like Rafah.
Controversial report too weapons shipments to Israel
Republicans in particular think this is wrong. “The reason Israel needs these bigger bombs is because Hamas is holding hostages in its tunnels and its leaders are buried deep underground,” Senator Tom Cotton, Republican of Arkansas, said on CBS. The Israeli army must enter Rafah. Joe Biden’s stance is actually a victory for Hamas, Cotton believes.
The report that the US government presented on Friday evening is also controversial. In it, she considers it possible that Israel could have violated international law with weapons from the USA. But she doesn’t go any further. Republicans like Tom Cotton interpret this as an acquittal for Israel.
No military support without it Aid deliveries?
On the other hand, Democrat Chris Van Hollen, Senator from Maryland, accuses the government of avoiding difficult questions in the report, for example regarding the restricted delivery of aid to the Gaza Strip: “By not addressing this clearly “And by not saying there were arbitrary restrictions, I’m afraid we set the threshold for what was acceptable very, very low,” Van Hollen said on CBS.
Bernie Sanders, the independent senator from Vermont, recalled current US law: No state that blocks aid deliveries from the US should receive military support. That’s exactly what Israel did, Sanders said on NBC. And with a view to the upcoming elections in November, he warned: Supporting Israel would harm Joe Biden politically.