CNN
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President Joe Biden is facing a backlash from lawmakers in both parties over his ultimatum that a major Israeli attack in the city of Rafah would lead to the suspension of some U.S. weapons.
Biden’s decision to make his ultimatum public in an interview with CNN’s Erin Burnett last week drew sharp criticism from all walks of life in the Republican Party on Sunday, as well as concerns among Democrats. It went up.
“On the one hand, they say too many Palestinian civilians have been killed. On the other hand, they are depriving us of precision-guided weapons that actually reduce civilian casualties.” Republican Sen. J.D. Vance told CNN’s Dana Bash on “State of the Union,” Biden specifically mentioned the bomb withholding, which was deemed indiscriminate and inaccurate by the government.
“So if you’re concerned about Palestinian casualties, the policies outlined here don’t really make much sense,” Vance said.
The president’s announcement marked a turning point in U.S.-Israel relations since the seven-month conflict between Israel and Hamas began in October. Still, the president’s aides said the message was not a surprise to the intended recipients in Israel, given the repeated warnings to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
Earlier this month, Biden signed a moratorium on 3,500 bombs to Israel, but administration officials feared they would be dropped on Rafah. Israel has ordered the evacuation of some of the estimated 1.4 million civilians sheltering in Rafah and appears poised to continue its advance into Rafah. A city in southern Gaza.
And last week, Biden told Barnett that if Israel were to go into Rafah, it would “not supply the weapons that have been used historically to deal with Rafah, to deal with the city, to deal with that problem.” Told.
Republican Sen. Lindsey Graham of South Carolina called the ultimatum “the worst decision in the history of U.S.-Israel relations.” Graham, a frequent critic of the White House, called on the Biden administration to “keep the arms flowing” and join forces with Israel.
Meanwhile, Republican Sen. Rick Scott of Florida told Fox News on Sunday that Biden’s decision sends a “terrible message to Israel,” adding that the president “unfortunately is now in the pro-Hamas wing of the party.” I’m a member,” he insisted.
But the backlash isn’t just happening along party lines.
On Friday, a group of 26 House Democrats sent a letter to Biden saying they are “deeply concerned about the message the administration is sending to Hamas and other Iranian-backed terrorist proxies by withholding arms shipments to Israel. ”
A group of House Democrats, led by New Jersey Rep. Josh Gottheimer, also called for more information about Biden’s decision and how and when the aid Congress has appropriated for Israel will be provided. Requested a briefing from the White House.
But Democratic Rep. Adam Smith of Washington state emphasized what weapons are being withheld. “The president wasn’t as clear about this as he should have been in the Erin Burnett interview,” he said on Fox News Sunday, adding: – and I think it stands to reason that they should not be used in Rapha. ”
Other Democrats have more forcefully defended Biden, who reached the ultimatum decision after several phone calls with Prime Minister Netanyahu starting in mid-February.
Sen. Chris Murphy, D-Conn., told Bash in a separate interview on “State of the Union” that Biden is “learning the mistakes of U.S. military operations in Iraq and Afghanistan.”
“What we learned in both of these efforts is that you can’t defeat a terrorist ideology. You can’t defeat a terrorist movement,” he said.
President Murphy said, “We are telling the Israeli people that we will be partners, but we need to understand the pace of civilian casualties. It will increase,” he said. Israel will be attacked again and it will strengthen other terrorist organizations with plans to attack the United States. ”
US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said on Sunday that the US believes Israel has killed more civilians than Hamas terrorists as part of the war in Gaza, and that Israel needs to do more to reduce civilian deaths. said it was necessary.
“Israel has processes, procedures, rules and regulations to minimize harm to civilians, but given the impact this operation and the war in Gaza have had on civilians, they are consistently failing. It has not been effectively applied,” Blinken said on CBS. “Face the nation.”
The Gaza Health Ministry reported on Sunday that the number of people killed in the enclave as a result of Israeli military operations has exceeded 35,000.
Last week, the State Department released a report saying it was “reasonable to assess” that U.S. weapons were used by Israeli forces in the Gaza Strip in a manner “inconsistent” with international humanitarian law, but that Israel violated the law. It was not possible to officially state that.
Democratic Sen. Chris Van Hollen of Maryland told Margaret Brennan on CBS’s “Face the Nation” that “there is enough to point to specific incidents and make specific decisions.” I think it’s written in it,” he said. On top of that, the administration dodged difficult questions. ”
Asked whether the report gave Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu political cover to continue his deadly attacks in Israel, Van Hollen said the administration had provided “a plain account of the facts and the law.” He said he was concerned that the situation was not being met.
The report does not find that Israel withheld humanitarian aid from Gaza in violation of international law, despite contradictory reports.
“By not saying it outright and saying that arbitrary restrictions are being imposed, [humanitarian aid], I’m concerned that we’re setting a very low bar, a very low bar for what’s acceptable,” Van Hollen said. “And I think that’s going to come back to bite us.”
Murphy added that the report “could have gone further” but “accurately describes the complexity of this.” Let’s be clear about that too. Yes, I believe there have been some very disastrous decisions regarding proportionality by the Israeli military. ”
Sen. Chris Coons, Democrat of Delaware, defended Mr. Biden from Mr. Van Hollen’s criticism of the State Department report, saying: “I think President Biden has taken strong action, which is why there has been a lot of backlash to his recent public statements.”
CNN’s Kit Maher said: Eileen Greif, Kevin Liptak, Jennifer Hansler and Kylie Atwood contributed to this report.
