US Secretary of State Antony Blinken is on another multi-day tour of the Middle East, where this time Arab leaders have finally acquiesced to meet with him as the Gaza crisis continues, at a moment the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) say that Gaza City is surrounded.
On Sunday Blinken visited Ramallah, in the Israeli-occupied West Bank, to meet with President Mahmoud Abbas of the internationally backed Palestinian Authority (PA). Blinken reportedly told Abbas that the US is pressing Israel to “minimize civilian harm”. He had some interesting ideas on how to do that.
Blinken had previously again met with Netanyahu Friday where according to fresh reports he pressed the Israeli prime minister to use “smaller bombs”.
“U.S. officials told the Israelis that they could reduce civilian casualties if they improved how they targeted Hamas leaders, gathered more intelligence on Hamas command and control networks before launching strikes, used smaller bombs to collapse the tunnel network and employed their ground forces to separate civilian population centers from where the militants are concentrated,” The New York Times reported.
Blinken of course stressed Israel’s “right to defend itself” but still pressed for a humanitarian “pause”. In Ramallah, he vowed to Abbas that the US will step up humanitarian aid efforts to the besieged Gaza Strip.
According to the latest grim figures, some 1.5 million Gazans have now been internally displaced:
The UN agency OCHA has said that of them, 710,275 are sheltering in 149 UNRWA facilities, 122,000 people are in hospitals, churches, and public buildings, 109,755 people are in 89 non-UNRWA schools, and the remainder are residing with host families.
Palestinian Authority leaders have charged that Israel is conducting “ethnic cleansing” – also by encouraging Palestinians to leave the entire northern half of the Strip while under bombardment.
Abbas has yet to publicly condemn Hamas’ Oct.7 terror attack, with the NY Times saying if he did so it would create severe backlash among his own population, also at a moment of increased sporadic fighting in the West Bank:
Still, he has not publicly condemned Hamas’s Oct. 7 attacks, largely out of fear of inflaming sentiment among Palestinians, with whom he is deeply unpopular. He has called more generally for a cease-fire and protections for Palestinian civilians, including in the West Bank.
Mr. Abbas echoed those messages on Sunday in his meetings with Mr. Blinken, according to Wafa, the official Palestinian news agency. It said Mr. Abbas had called for “an immediate halt” to the war in Gaza and an end to the attacks in the West Bank, which he described as “no less horrific.”
Interestingly, Abbas told Blinken that the Palestinian Authority could assume power in a post-conflict Gaza. This comes after Blinken earlier said the US remains open to the possibility of an international peacekeeping force to assume control in Gaza. Abbas stipulated the following:
But Abbas said the Palestinian Authority would only assume power in Gaza as part of a “comprehensive political solution” to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, according to the Palestinians’ official WAFA news agency. Abbas condemned Israel’s bombardment of Gaza as a “genocidal war” and urged Blinken “to immediately stop them from committing such crimes,” the agency reported.
Over the weekend the death toll from Israel’s air and ground campaign in Gaza surpassed 9,500 killed – with some half of these being women and children. Some 240 Israeli and foreign hostages are still being held in the Gaza strip, though there are reports some may have been killed. Possibly dozens of IDF troops have been killed and wounded amid the ground operation, but Israel has been slow to publish these figures.
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Does any other tribe have a word that compares to chutzpah?
Italian:
faccia tosta
brass neck [noun] shameless cheek or impudence
1st Degree Narcissism with a dose of stupidity.
Yes, maiming is so much better than killing, it soothes the conscious. (sarc)
Yes, please use smaller bombs on the evacuation convoys, the schools, apartment buildings, refugee camps and the hospitals.
Don’t forget historic churches and ambulances, and hospital parking lots where you just know they are stashing WMDs.
OK, now this has to be The Babylon Bee.
Next he asks them to use smaller caliber bullets!
but smaller calibers do more damage according to Joe Biden. A .223 ruins every scrap of meat in a deer so no one can even eat it!!!!!
strap him up with some low order black powder and drop him from high enough?
We need to recognize these people for what they are. The Biden administration, and the entire Congress are Genocidal collaborator’s.
Once the genocide of the Palestinians is completed, and no one is prosecuted, then they can begin on the other people they want to murder for standing up for their rights.
Today it is the Palestinian’s, tomorrow it will be the MAGA supporters. What goes around comes around. When you fail to oppose genocide, do not complain when you are the victim of it….
Also recognize that Blinken comes from a FUS based Ukranian American Jewish Zionist family.. His grandfather was one of the architects of the state of Israel.
Blinken’s father was Robert Maxwell’s lawyer (father of Ghislaine Maxwell)!
There are no coincidences
OK. I mean, I don’t know if I am going to say anything if they come for the MAGAtards, but I get the idea.
That little pussy thinks he’s good looking and cool and smart and tough. Definition of a punchable face.
israel has shot down a ballistic missile while it was still in space,the 1st time that it has been done —
it was launched from yemen —
The fucking Houthis have missiles going into space? LOL
I wonder if this is one of those repurposed SAMs.
And how many other missiles came through?
Sounds like bullshit to me….
Democracy as it is. Nothing against it
We have Blinken, Mayorkas, Levine, Buttigieg, Harris and other poseurs running the country. What could go wrong?
Blinken’ is in cahoots with Winkin’ and Nod. This is not a good situation.
Blinkin is retarded🤣 I do believe you may be right, Admin!
This guy is a walking talking idiot. All these recommendations sound great in theory but in reality, that is not how war works. Unfortunately, since WW2 targeting of civilians and collateral damage have been parts of modern warfare. They try to minimize it so they can say well we tried not to kill all those civilians they were just unfortunate collateral damage! The families who experience this collateral damage develop a hatred of Israel and the US that will last for generations….and so it goes on and on…..
I have cherry bombs from last New Years. Will that do?
The Bee will go out of business at this rate………lol!……….jk…..
These evil bastards are FUNDING both sides, and HAVE BEEN for a long time… decade(s)… with money taken from us on the threat of ruin or prison.
The US is lead by people who are completely out of touch with the real world! There can be only one result of this – COLLAPSE –