The US has repeatedly warned Israel against carrying out a wide scale operation in Rafah

okay Eli you heard the president three weeks ago you heard his National Security adviser yesterday has the US just moved the gopost move the president's Red Line well I I think what the Biden Administration like many other uh uh American policy makers are learning once again is that providing largely unconditional military aid to Israel is extremely dangerous because Israel has demonstrated that they are either unwilling or incapable of abiding by their own stated rules of engage engagement let alone American red lines they they simply aren't behaving like a professional military you know Israel bombed World Central Kitchen Aid workers they killed 45 displaced people in Rafa using a weapon made by Boeing and shipped from the United States and they have now entered into despite what John Kirby says into what appears to be a major ground incursion into Rafa it's becoming increasingly clear that the Biden White House is either uninterested in enforcing any red lines on Israel um or that these red lines maybe simply don't actually exist oh so why doesn't Okay so two things I suppose let's start with this one in that case why doesn't the president say do what he said he would do and limit or withdraw military support for Israel look I I think they are loathed to to undertake an action like that um or to even acknowledge that their red lines have been crossed and you know I think there are probably two reasons that are fair consistent but certainly one can quibble about how well thought out they are uh I mean I think on the domestic political front there is a fear of offending uh voters and donors coming into what's going to what's a really hotly contested American presidential election uh but there's also the Strategic reason uh that undergirds this and which is very consistent across administrations of doubling down on what is arguably a failed strategy of you know embracing the Israelis embracing Netanyahu closely with the belief that by doing so one can influence their decision- making now once again it's hard to show how that's actually uh played out here in a way that could justify that that theory or that strategy or make one want to continue pursuing it but it certainly seems to be a persuasive argument for many policy makers but but just as a matter of logic then if Biden doesn't actually want to limit uh US military support for Israel why did he say he would it creates an immediate credibility issue absolutely and he was facing increasing domestic let alone International backlash for the positions that he had taken of providing this unconditional support and Aid and I think as a way of trying to back stop it or as a way of trying to uh address those concerns and at this point I would add that you know he's lost maybe around 3% of the voters who voted for him in in the previous election in 2020 are now saying they might not vote for him again that could be pretty decisive in swing States so he's looking to do something to say something uh and I think that's where the making statements about the potential for for freezing weapon sales for holding them up indeed they did hold up some weapon weapons transfers that had been scheduled to to occur uh plays into it they kind of want to have it both ways uh and unfortunately by having it both ways they they might not make anyone happy okay so you've kind of addressed this next point but I think there's a little bit more meat on that bone is how much do Americans actually care about what's happening in Rafa and I assume that's something that's very you know that's a question Biden must be asking himself I mean look when you look at polling of what drives American votes in elections foreign policy tends to be pretty low that said this is looking to be a razor thin presidential election you have swing states where a small percentage of votes may actually determine the outcome for the entire country for the election so I think in this case it could matter a great deal even if actually where it Stacks up in terms of voter issues is relatively low this is me really a a hot hot button issue for the administration it's incredibly divisive within the United States it's incredibly divisive within Democratic like likely Democratic voters it's incredibly divisive divisive within the donor base that but Joe Biden needs to raise the estimated $1 billion dollars that one needs now to run a presidential campaign in this country uh so I I think he's facing a lot of competing interests a lot of competing needs and unfortunately I'm not sure if the outcome we're getting is actually beneficial for US National Security or advances American interests in the world let alone helps protect innocent people in Rafa okay Eli Clifton senior adviser at the Quincy Institute for responsible statecraft thank you very much for your time today thanks for having me at least two Palestinians have been killed in an Israeli air strike on a home in jabalia in Northern Gaza attacks have intensified there for weeks after Israeli forces re the north saying Hamas had regrouped there m al kahut reports from jabalia it's obvious that the Israeli ground Liberation in Northern Gaza Strip is not over yet for 16 days as the Israeli forces keep advancing in the central areas of nothing Gaza Strip the Israeli forces have a full military control all over jabalia refugee camp shik Z and in addition to alala is under a heavy art and aerial attacks right now snipers and quad capters are shooting every mobile body at this at these areas and civil defense cannot reach the dead bodies in the streets just because of the heavy of fire there 200,000 Palestinians had to flee nothing Gaza Strip and the east of nothing else strip to the West as the Israeli forces ordered in order to have a safe place or a shelter all of these people had to flee without water or food or even batteries in order to light up the Dark Knight there these people are experiencing unprecedent hardship and a crushing humanitarian circumstances and when it comes to food here famine storms and hit nothing Gaza again as nothing enters the territory for a very long time and people here are asking when this will end make sure to subscribe to our channel to get the latest news from Al jazer

Channel: Al Jazeera English

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Length: 6min 47sec (407 seconds)

Published: Thu May 30 2024