Attack in Gaza still doesn’t Cross Biden’s Redline, White House
The Biden administration on Tuesday dismissed this assertion, claiming that Israel had not crossed the U. S. red line concern, fully assaulting Rafah despite accounts of tanks entering the besieged southern Gaza border town.
US spokesperson on the situation, Matthew Miller, has clearly stated that the current operation in Rafah is not comparable with the previous attacks towards other big cities, including Khan Younis and Gaza City. “This so far is a different type of military operation,” Miller said, emphasising the civilian casualties and distribution of humanitarian aid.
This is especially the case given the fact that Israel is becoming progressively isolated diplomatically in the world. The ICJ recently demanded that Israel cease its action in Rafah, and this order has been dismissed while the attacks were ongoing. In particular, on Sunday, Israeli forces targeted a tent camp for refugees in the area of Tel al-Sultan neighbourhood in Rafah, which left at least 45 people dead, most of them women and children, as well as becoming the cause of the massive fire.
This bombing led to serious responses from major US-affiliated countries. I am outraged – said the President of France, Emmanuel Macron, and the head of EU diplomacy, Josep Borrell, called the strike and attack on the civilian population in the strongest terms.
The Biden administration’s latest action regarding Israel’s operation in Rafah is questionable, especially since President Biden before vowed not to provide more offensive arms to Israel if they target Rafah population areas. However, my key informants argue that the administration is reluctant to implement this redline. Another former administration official involved in the peace process, Frank Lowenstein, said the phrase meant Biden would not touch the conflict and labelled the red line more of a pink one.
John Kirby of the White House further avows that no yardstick can be applied to imply that some figure has been crossed as the ‘red line’. He justified that what happened on Sunday was an attack on Egypt by Israel; Biden did not consider it as a cross which warranted halting the arms transfers, but a pause was made on a shipment of bombs to Israel.
This bombing in Rafah has caused outcries from progressive Democrats. Many critics, including the representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, labelled the strike as an ‘indefensible atrocity,’ and they encouraged Biden to pause the supply of aid to the purpose. Democratic Palestinian-American member of Congress Rashida Tlaib accused the Prime Minister of Israel, Benjamin Netanyahu, of wanting to perform an ethnic cleansing of Palestinians and demanded Biden act. Congresswoman Ayanna Pressley referred to images coming from Rafah as horrific and shocking, asking how the US would continue to watch and do nothing.
Still, these criticisms appear in a presidential election in which Republicans are again seeking to brandish themselves as Israel’s staunchest allies. After Trump left office, the only white Republican major candidate who ran for president, Nikki Haley, took a trip to Israel and a photo was taken of her practising on an Israeli bomb with the words ‘Terminate Them’ on it. Mike Johnson, Speaker of the House, also recently invited Benjamin Netanyahu to address the joint session of Congress, which may add more political pressure on Biden and other Democrats.
The administration has been balancing compassionately its response to criticism it received over Israel. Last week, the Chief Prosecutor of the International Criminal Court asked for arrest warrants against officials of Israel and Hamas and on that, Secretary of State Anthony Blinken opened the possibility of sanctions on the court. Nevertheless, Kirby has added that the administration does not think that attempts to punish the ICC are appropriate.
More so, the positions and activities of the Biden administration in the developing conflict will be under significant pressure from both domestic and international actors. Due to the continuous violence and humanitarian situation in Gaza, the US foreign relations policy on Israel and Palestine remains to be in the spotlight.
