That is the headline in today’s London Times:
President Biden and other leading figures in Washington have told Israeli officials to delay their anticipated ground invasion of Gaza, warning that the Israel defence forces (IDF) are not sufficiently prepared to take on Hamas in the labyrinth of tunnels beneath the Palestinian territory.
Does anyone doubt that the people best able to judge whether Israel’s forces are “sufficiently prepared to take on Hamas” are those who run the IDF? What possible expertise does Joe Biden bring to that question?
Israel has mobilised 360,000 reserve soldiers, many of them at staging posts close to Gaza, preparing for a major invasion. They have been ordered to destroy Hamas’s military capabilities but the Biden administration’s pressure to delay an attack has seen them remain at the border for more than a week.
I sincerely hope that Israel’s government is not letting its war fighting strategy be influenced by the Biden administration, which does not have its best interests at heart.
[Lloyd Austin, the US Secretary of Defense] is believed to have repeatedly cautioned over how a ground operation might unfold, highlighting Hamas’s vast network of underground passages and tunnels that could make hand to hand combat difficult, even with the IDF’s vastly superior firepower.
Are these people serious? Do they really believe the Israelis are not sufficiently aware of the perils of urban warfare? Which have only grown during the time when any attack has been forestalled.
Austin told ABC News’s This Week on Sunday…that he had “encouraged” [Israeli Minister of Defense Yoav Gallant to] “conduct their operations in accordance with the law of war”.
Like the Gazans did?
American officials have become increasingly concerned that a ground invasion in Gaza could lead to a huge loss of civilian life.
Yes, that is what happens when you start a war. Just ask the Germans and Japanese. Every casualty in this war, on both sides, is exclusively the fault of the people of Gaza and their political leadership.
“It’s a sign of weakness in the Israeli leadership right now that the Americans are starting to dictate our security policy on the ground,” one Israeli security official said.
It certainly is. Joe Biden knows absolutely nothing about military matters, and Lloyd Austin’s principal field of expertise is transgenderism. We can only hope that the Israelis will listen to them politely and then do whatever is necessary to exact revenge for the invasion of October 7.
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