The United States has done a piss-poor job of protecting our allies since Biden has taken office. With all that’s happening in Palestine and Israel, important questions have to be asked. Especially since Biden recently said that he wants to see Israel “pause” its military response. Since John Kirby, the coordinator for strategic communications at the National Security Council, isn’t going to tell us what that means, we have to depend on Peter Doocy of Fox News to ask.
Doocy never disappoints.
“As you push the Israelis for humanitarian pauses, are they just supposed to sit back and let Hamas attack them and attack them and attack them and not fight back?”
It’s a good question. While Biden stopped short of demanding a “ceasefire,” it’s basically asking for that. But he only asked it of Israel. He didn’t make the same comments of Palestine and Hamas.
Kirby dodged the question a bit. He said that the Biden administration made it “crystal clear” that Israel can defend itself.
Doocy wasn’t happy with that response. He asked a follow-up question of whether the pause means they can shoot back.
Kirby was obviously exasperated by having to speak the truth at this point. “My goodness, Peter.” This is the kind of thing we’d expect to hear from Karine Jean-Pierre. It’s almost as if she gave Kirby some pointers on how to deal with the hard-hitting reporter.
Kirby went on to answer the question by saying that the US gives them “security assistance” almost every day. He explained, “But we do advocate pauses by both sides here – temporary, localized – to be able to get Americans out, to be able to get aid in? You betcha we do.”
That’s good news to hear, at the very least. Of course, not shooting Hamas only works if Hamas respects the temporary halt, too. Otherwise, the Israelis become sitting ducks.
Antony Blinken will also be calling for the Israeli government to pause so that civilians can seek protection. This is not easy because Hamas is blocking those citizens from leaving Gaza. Those civilians trying to leave are being used as human shields by Hamas, which is why there’s a problem to begin with.
It’s not a pretty situation, and there’s no telling when it will be over.
Thankfully, we’ve gotten a bit of clarification on what’s actually being asked of Israel thanks to Peter Doocy’s relentless questions.
