Secretary of State Anthony Blinken on Sunday declined to define the Biden administration’s “red line” with Israel, despite President Joe Biden’s comments earlier this week that the United States would withhold certain military aid if Israel launched an attack on Rafah.
“What we’ve seen in the last few months is a deep concern on our part about the possibility of a major military operation, given the toll it would take on civilians in Rafah,” Blinken said in an interview with NBC News on Sunday. Meet the press.”
He added: “The president has made it clear for some time that we cannot and will not support a major military operation in Rafah because there is no credible plan to support them and remove them from danger.”
His comments come days later Biden told CNN If Israel goes into Rafah, “I’m not providing weapons that have historically been used to fight Rafah, to deal with cities, to deal with this problem.”
Blinken told moderator Kristen Welker that the Biden administration does not have a red line, but is “actively negotiating with Israel about providing heavy or high-yield weapons — large bombs — because we’re concerned about the impact of that.” weapons can be when used in a dense urban environment like Rafah.
Blinken’s latest comments come after the State Department released a report to Congress on Friday concluded that the “valuation is reasonable”. He said that Israel violated international law in Gaza.
Still, the report found Israel had not violated the terms of U.S. arms deals, and Blinken defended the report’s vagueness, saying it “makes it clear that this is an incredibly complex military environment.”
“You have an enemy who is deliberately teaming up with civilians.” “It is very difficult to make a definitive assessment of any individual incident in the heat of war.”
Last week, before the report was released, the Biden administration Aborted scheduled shipment of 2,000 pound bomb and 500 pound bomb to Israel over concerns about a possible military occupation of the southern Gaza city of Rafah, home to more than a million refugees.
Management continued to send other military aid Only to the country fighting with Hamas Biden‘s decision revealed a new sin lines in his partyIsraeli supporters are questioning the decision, and Palestinian supporters are criticizing the president for not doing enough. too little, too late.
Vermont independent Sen. Bernie Sanders, who has called for a ceasefire in Gaza, told Meet the Press on Sunday that “a lot of people are very disappointed. … It hurts [Biden] From the political point of view, of course, it is so.
“Israel should not receive another nickel in US military aid,” Sanders said.
Moments later, Senator Lindsey Graham, RS.C. He backed down from Sanders’ call to end aid to Israel. He compares the war in Gaza to the US decision to drop the atomic bomb In Japan during World War II.
“Give Israel the bombs it needs to end the war. They cannot afford to lose,” Graham told Welker.
A few weeks ago, Biden signed the law A $26 billion package of bills for additional aid to Israel and humanitarian aid to Gaza.