The Biden administration spent more than $300 million to construct a pier on the Gaza shore, intended to facilitate provision of supplies to Hamas. Which is itself, of course, a terrible idea. But things have not gone well:
NEW Lifespan of Biden’s $320 million pier:
May 17: Biden’s pier opens
May 21: “No aid from pier has been delivered to broader population”
May 28: Pier ops suspended after piece breaks off
June 8: U.S. resumes pier deliveries
TODAY: Pier to be torn down due to rough seas pic.twitter.com/Y9ATqyUOLU
— John Hasson (@SonofHas) June 14, 2024
To be fair, the “tearing down” of the pier is intended to be temporary:
The United States military is preparing to temporarily remove its humanitarian pier off the coast of Gaza because of anticipated sea conditions, a US official said on Friday, the latest challenge to the effort that has been hampered by bad weather since it was put into place in May.
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The official, speaking on the condition of anonymity, said that the pier would likely be moved to the Israeli port of Ashdod until sea conditions improve.
Whether the pier will ever assist in delivering material amounts of supplies to Gaza remains to be seen. Personally, I hope that doesn’t happen. Gaza needs to suffer for what it did on October 7, and we should assist Israel in destroying Hamas, not impede its efforts by supplying the enemy.
Ironically, a dispute has broken out over whether the pier has been used to help the Israelis:
UN officials also said they were reassessing the use of the pier, claiming that Israeli military activity nearby had jeopardized the perceived neutrality of the aid route.
Rushing out a mortally wounded Israeli commando after last week’s hostage rescue raid, Israeli rescuers opted against returning the way they came, across a land border, Israel Defense Forces Spokesperson Rear Adm. Daniel Hagari told reporters. Instead, they sped toward the beach and the site of the US aid hub on Gaza’s coast, he said. An Israeli helicopter touched down near the US-built pier and helped whisk away hostages and the commando, according to the US and Israeli militaries.
Israel and the US deny that any aspect of the month-old US pier was used in the Israeli raid. They say an area near it was used to fly home the hostages.
Too bad. That would have been the first time the pier had actually been put to good use. But Hamas/U.N. is not satisfied:
However, the UN World Food Program, which works with the US to transfer aid from the pier to warehouses and local aid teams for distribution within Gaza, suspended cooperation as it conducts a security review. Aid has been piling up on the beach since.
That is wonderful, isn’t it? Aid piles up on the beach while the U.N. investigates whether the U.S. might actually have helped Israel rescue hostages. The U.N’s priorities, as usual, are perverse. And anyway, don’t they know that the Biden administration is on their side?
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