U.S. President Joe Biden arrived in Israel on Wednesday pledging solidarity in its war against Hamas and backing its account that a blast that killed huge numbers of Palestinians at a Gaza hospital had been caused by militants.

U.S. President Joe Biden arrived in Israel on Wednesday pledging solidarity in its war against Hamas and backing its account that a blast that killed huge numbers of Palestinians at a Gaza hospital had been caused by militants.

The fireball that engulfed the Al-Ahli al-Arabi hospital delivered some of the most harrowing images yet from a 12-day war, and wrecked White House plans for Biden’s emergency diplomatic mission to the Middle East, with Arab leaders calling off their planned summit with the U.S. president.

Palestinian officials blamed an Israeli air strike for the blast, which it said had killed as many as 500 people. Israel said the blast was caused by a failed rocket launch by the Palestinian Islamic Jihad militant group, which denied blame.

Speaking alongside Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, Biden said: “I was deeply saddened and outraged by the explosion of the hospital in Gaza yesterday, and based on what I’ve seen, it appears as though it was done by the other team, not you.”

  • PoliticalAgitator@lemm.eeEnglish
    1·
    1 year ago

    If that was their goal, they could depopulate the Gaza Strip in an hour.

    And if there were no repercussions, they absolutely would.

    But much to their obvious resentment, they need to play the international politics game. If they don’t, they’ll find their economy decimated in much the same way a Russia has. And when the arms deals dry up, they could easily end up on the receiving end, given their unpopularity with their neighbours.

    Truly, ask yourself what Israel would do if its true aim was “killing as many as possible”. I’m genuine asking you, what do you think they would do if that was the intent, and are they doing those things?

    I would keep taking inch after inch, waiting for any excuse to retaliate, and then retaliate as violently and indiscrimately as possible.

    So as a purely hypothetical example, maybe I’d constantly encroach on their borders and bulldoze their homes.

    Maybe I’d imprison and execute children for throwing rocks.

    Maybe when a terrorist cell crossed the border and killed (a fraction as many) civilians, I’d drop an absurd number of bombs on their city, beyond what could possibly be targeting actual combatants, killing scores of civilians and levelling buildings.

    Purely hypothetically of course.