As of this writing, it appears that Israel has accelerated the attacks on Hamas in Gaza, including some unknown number of tanks and troops entering into northern Gaza. Perhaps we’ll have more clarity in the morning.
There was a moment of moral clarity from John Kirby, at a White House press briefing, when a reporter claimed that Biden’s lack of trust in the statistics of Gaza civilian deaths reported by the Hamas health ministry and acceptance that “innocents” die in war, was “harsh.” (Of course, this is the same Gaza health ministry that claimed Israel bombed a hospital killing over 500 civilians, when there was no Israeli bombing, no bombing of the hospital by anyone, a terrorist rocket hit a parking lot, and any actual civilian deaths were a tiny fraction of what was claimed.)
From Curtis Houck on Twitter:
OMG I can’t believe I’m saying this, but….go John Kirby?TV Globo’s @RKrahenbuhl: “So, besides saying that he doesn’t have confidence in these numbers, the President went further to say that innocents will die and that this is the price of the war. You also said that.”Kirby: “I have indeed.”Krähenbühl: “Don’t you think this is insensitive? There’s being very harsh criticism in about it. For example, the Council of American-Islamic Relations said it was deeply disturbed and call on the President to apologize. Would the President apologize?”Kirby: “No.”Krähenbühl: “And does he regret saying something like that?”Kirby: “What’s harsh — what’s harsh is the way Hamas is using people as human shields. What’s harsh is taking a couple of hundred hostages and leaving families and anxious, waiting and worrying to figure out where their loved ones are. What’s harsh, is dropping in on a music festival and slaughtering a bunch of young people just trying to enjoy an afternoon. I could go on and on. That’s what’s harsh. That is what’s harsh and being honest about the fact that there have been civilian casualties and that there likely will be more is being honest, because that’s what war is. It’s brutal. It’s ugly. It’s messy. I’ve said that before. President also said that yesterday. Doesn’t mean we have to like it. And it doesn’t mean that we’re dismissing anyone of those casualties each and every one is a tragedy in its own right…It would be helpful if Hamas would let [Gazans] leave….We know that there are thousands waiting to leave Gaza writ large and Hamas is preventing them from doing it. That is what is harsh.”
You know what else is harsh?
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