A group of "progressive" lawmakers is asking President Joe Biden to essentially stop Israel from attacking on Hamas.
Politico reports:
Top progressive lawmakers are urging President Joe Biden to lean more heavily on Israel as it launches what seems likely to be an aggressive, bloody and lengthy campaign in Gaza.
Last Saturday, on the holiday of Simchat Torah, Hamas terrorists launched a devastating attack on the Israeli people, killing over 1,300. Israel initially went on defense, and, now, it is going on offense.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, referring to Hamas, has pledged to "wipe them off the face of the Earth."
This appears to be what Israel is now going to try to do. Reports on Friday indicated that Israel is ready to launch a major counteroffensive.
In addition to statements of the kind made by Netanyahu, Israel has also made its intentions clear by sending out a warning to the citizens of Gaza, telling them to evacuate the area. The warning was given to over 1 million Palestinians in northern Gaza.
Some members of America's left now want Biden to, more or less, stop Israel's counteroffensive.
Politico reports:
The leader of the Congressional Progressive Caucus along with dozens more lawmakers wrote the president and Secretary of State Antony Blinken a letter on Friday asking them to push Israel to follow international law and for the United States to help establish a humanitarian corridor as the war in the Middle East escalates.
The outlet goes on to quote the letter that the progressives sent to Biden.
It, in part, reads:
We are deeply concerned about the order to evacuate over a million civilians out of northern Gaza and the devastating humanitarian consequences that would ensue. As both the European Union High Representative for Foreign Affairs and the United Nations Commission on Human Rights said, imposing a complete siege on Gaza and depriving 2.3 million Palestinian civilians who have nowhere else to go — half of whom are children — of food, water, and electricity, would be a violation of international humanitarian law.
Here, the progressives are referring to the fact that Israel has cut off the Gaza strip's access to such resources as food, water, and power until Hamas returns the hostages that it has taken.
Unlike some members of the left, Biden has made it clear that he supports Israel's right to defend itself against Hamas.
So, it would seem unlikely that he would grant the progressives' request, which would seem to interfere with Israel's right to defend itself.
But, with Biden, one can never say for sure.
