President Biden doesn’t give many sit-down television interviews, but when he does, he tends to make news. This week he sat down for an on-air session with CNN’s Erin Burnett, who asked him point-blank whether US bombs given to Israel have caused civilian casualties in Gaza.
Biden’s response was notable not necessarily because the answer was a mystery (of course U.S. bombs have killed civilians there) but rather because Biden showed a considerable degree of frustration with Israel’s war strategy. ‘Civilians have been killed in Gaza as a consequence of those bombs and other ways in which they [Israel] go after population centres,’ the President said. ‘I’ve made it clear to Bibi and the war cabinet: They’re not going to get our support, if in fact they go on these population centres.’
Biden’s remarks, in tandem with Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin’s confirmation that a shipment of 1,800 2,000-pound bombs (along with 1,700 lighter munitions) destined for Israel was paused, caused heated reaction on all sides of the debate. For progressive Democrats, the suspension was seven months too late; for Republican lawmakers and some moderate Democrats, Biden was effectively handing Hamas a propaganda win.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his cabinet members were livid at the news. Netanyahu defiantly produced a short video in which he said Israel would win the war alone if need be. Other criticisms were downright insulting: National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir, convicted of supporting a terrorist group in his past life, bluntly stated that Hamas loved Biden.
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