The Biden-Harris administration is threatening to withhold military aid from Israel if it does not improve humanitarian aid efforts in Gaza in 30 days.
Secretary of State Antony Blinken and Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin told Israeli Minister of Strategic Affairs Ron Dermer and Defense Minister Yoav Gallant that Israel must provide hundreds of aid trucks each day for Gaza, rescind evacuation orders from nonoperational areas, and “institute adequate humanitarian pauses across Gaza as necessary.”
“Failure to demonstrate a sustained commitment to implementing and maintaining these measures may have implications for U.S. policy under NSM-20 and relevant U.S. law,” the letter says.
“We have been having a number of ongoing conversations with them about the very serious decrease in the level of humanitarian assistance,” State Department spokesman Matthew Miller told reporters, according to The New York Post.
Former U.S. Ambassador David Friedman called the threat “repugnant.”
“Israel is fighting a war on seven fronts against terrorist forces that show no respect for humanity, law or morality, and Biden/Harris/Blinken/Austin are threatening to hold off assistance to Israel unless Israel increases ‘humanitarian aid’ that invariably just extends the war and is hijacked by Hamas,” he wrote on X.
“Make no mistake here — this is just political gamesmanship by the Biden/Harris administration to pick up a few more votes among its woke supporters,” he added. “It is a cynical but deadly gambit that will make a hostage deal even less likely and lead to more carnage and instability. Amateur hour!”
