As Ceasefire Nears End, Biden White House Puts Conditions on Israel’s Military Operations Against Hamas
Hamas terrorists violate ceasefire, opens fire, and detonates explosives next to IDF troops.
As the Israeli military prepares to resume the counter-terrorism operation in Gaza, President Joe Biden has placed conditions on IDF operations against the terror group Hamas, the Israeli and U.S. media report. The ceasefire, which began on November 24 as part of the hostages-for-terrorists deal, is expected to end on Tuesday or Wednesday — depending on the status of negotiations to secure the release of additional Israeli captives.
The Biden White House wants Israel to scale down its military operations once the ceasefire ends — reducing the momentum of the Israeli ground offensive inside the terrorist-infested territory. “President Biden has apparently told Israeli government officials that when the IDF ground campaign moves into the southern part of Gaza, maximum efforts must be made not to produce further significant displacement of civilians,” the Israeli TV channel i24NEWS reported Tuesday. “In a briefing by senior administration officials with reporters, the U.S. leader has repeatedly said the IDF should not “replicate” what took place in northern Gaza during the first part of the ground incursion, during which hundreds of thousands of civilians were moved to a humanitarian zone in southern Gaza.”
The news comes amid growing pressure from Democrats on the Hill to put ‘conditions’ on Israel, The Wall Street Journal reported Monday.
“Israel agreed on Monday to a two-day extension of its truce with Hamas to gain the release of more hostages, a priority of President Biden. But another idea is gaining ground among Democrats that is more dangerous: condition U.S. aid on how Israel conducts its war of self-preservation,” the WSJ noted. “The stipulation is said to be merely that Israel follow international law. But since Israel does follow international law, and the U.S. already can withhold foreign assistance on human-rights grounds, the condition is unnecessary—but not harmless. During wartime, it would signal to Israel’s enemies that the U.S. has gone wobbly on the campaign to destroy Hamas.”
On Sunday, The New York Times also reported the Biden administration’s “warning'” to Israel over its future conduct of military operations against the Islamic terror group in Gaza. “United States has warned Israel that it must fight more surgically and avoid further mass displacement of Palestinians,” the NYT reported Sunday. “The statements are the Biden administration’s strongest warning to Israeli officials to date about the next phase of their military operation.”
Joe Truzman, a research analyst for @FDD's Long War Journal, discusses the multiple perspectives regarding the possible 2-day extension of the ceasefire in context to the decades-long on-going conflict pic.twitter.com/tJBUFsSfUa
— i24NEWS English (@i24NEWS_EN) November 28, 2023
Hamas violates ceasefire, opens fire and detonates explosives next to IDF troops
While the Biden White House wants Israel to fight with one hand tied behind its back, Hamas broke the ceasefire by opening fire and detonating explosives near IDF troops in northern Gaza, injuring several soldiers.
Over the last hour, 3 explosive devices were detonated adjacent to IDF troops in 2 different locations in northern Gaza, violating the framework of the operational pause.
In one of the locations, terrorists also opened fire at the troops, who responded with fire. A number of…
— Israel Defense Forces (@IDF) November 28, 2023
The Israeli broadcaster Arutz Sheva reported Hamas’s ceasefire breach:
Over the last hour, three explosive devices were detonated adjacent to IDF troops in two different locations in the northern Gaza Strip, violating the framework of the operational pause. In one of the locations, terrorists also opened fire at the troops, who responded with fire.
A number of soldiers were lightly injured during the incidents.
In both incidents, the troops were located in positions as per the framework of the operational pause.
The three explosions occurred during the fifth day of the ceasefire, which was extended yesterday (Monday) from its original four days. With the extension of the ceasefire, an additional 20 Israeli hostages will be freed today and tomorrow, ten each day.
Israel’s National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir urged Prime Minister Netanyahu to respond to Hamas’sbreach of truce, saying, “We cannot wait for them to kill our fighters.”
During the ceasefire, Hamas has:
1. Fired rockets at Israeli civilians.
2. Detonated three bombs targeting IDF troops.
3. Opened fire on Israeli soldiers.
4. Violated the conditions of the hostage-for-prisoners deal by refusing to release mothers and their children together.
5.…— Hen Mazzig (@HenMazzig) November 28, 2023
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Comments
“WH tells Israel”
No, Israel tells the world what’s up and what it’s gonna do about it.
Israel does whatever they deem necessary and the world can pound sand.
—fixed that for you.
Israel will determine if and how they survive this war. The US would prefer a HAMAS victory.
Subotai Bahadur
I assume that Israel knows which neighborhoods harbor high concentrations of Hamas supporters, they should destroy many of those neighborhoods with a blitz. That would take out a bunch of pragmatic people and send a message destroying a lot of Hamas propaganda, Then go full bore burning out those tunnels. Gazan’s will to fight has to be broken.
Yeah. Thanks for the important advice. F**k you very much.
70% support means all of them.
Someone please explain how the White House tells Israel what to do.
Because Iran is in partnership with their lacky…er… associate… FJBiden and Iran holds the purse strings of the money FJBiden sent them (less 10%).
10% is Joe Biden’s personal take, the other 90% is spread around in the Biden Syndicate.
The White House gave much more money with much less restraint to Iran. So the explanation will be different depending on whether your dealing with Muslims or Jews.
On the other hand, that wasn’t the US’s money. It was Iran’s money that the US had been holding because successive presidents knew that if the mullahs had it they would use it to kill US servicemen and promote terrorism around the world. 0bama and Biden knew that too, but they didn’t care. They have blood on their hands. Still, it didn’t cost the US taxpayers anything, so there is that.
Money, weapons
because the US taxpayer is paying Israel’s bills to the tune of $3.3 billion annually
The Green River Killer likely paid his hooker victims too.
And leaving a thorn in Israel’s side guarantees continued arms sales. If you want fewer taxpayer dollars to go to Israel’s defense, you’d be in favor of the crushing Hamas, and other major threats to Israel’s security, because this would reduce Israel’s need for American arms and money.
Note three things:
1. Unlike almost all other foreign aid, the US gets good value from the money it gives Israel, in many different ways. Probably more than the money is worth.
2. The US owes Israel aid, because it was the price Carter promised in return for Israel giving the entire Sinai and all its resources away to Egypt. If the US wants to stop paying Israel, then morally it ought to take the Sinai off Egypt and return it to Israel. Of course the Egyptians would object, forcefully. And the US values its friendship with Egypt, which is why Carter forced Israel to give it away in the first place, every inch of it. Certainly the “peace” it got in return was not worth it. And the money is less than the economic value of what Israel gave away.
But that’s all morally. Legally it’s of course not enforceable, and practically I think Israel would be better off if the US would just cut off the money, even if it gave nothing in return.
Oops, the third thing was the fact that addiction to the money makes Israel obey the USA even when it’s completely and disastrously against its interests.
One outrageous example was when Bush Sr made Israel sit on its hands while Saddam Hussein was bombarding it, and let itself be protected by US Patriot missiles, leading directly to the Shamir government’s defeat at the next election, the election of the Rabin/Peres government that brought the disastrous Oslo Accords, and pretty much every problem Israel has had since then.
In return for this, Bush promised Shamir $10B in loan guarantees (which cost the USA nothing at all), so he could build housing for the million immigrants from the USSR that were in the middle of arriving. After the war he effectively reneged on that promise by imposing a requirement that none of the housing be built in the “territories”. That too led directly to all the problems Israel has had since. A million extra Jewish residents in the “territories” would have made Oslo impossible; and of course housing those people would have made most of them vote for Shamir and/or his partners, so there would have been no Oslo in the first place.
Also note that much of the aid is in the form of loan guarantees, which are very valuable to Israel but don’t cost the US taxpayer anything. And most of the military aid must be spent in the USA, so it’s basically a subsidy to the US arms industry, which is vital to US security.
American presidents have always treated Israel as if it were a vassal rather than an independent country. And Israel almost always obeys their orders, so they never get disabused of this notion. It’s infuriating, but it’s how they always behave. Especially since Israel got addicted to American money; that’s why I support those Republicans who want to end aid to Israel. I don’t believe they’re motivated by antisemitism, I think they just don’t think foreign aid is a good use of borrowed money. And I think it would do Israel good if the money did stop coming, because then Israel might grow a backbone and feel free to refuse orders from Washington.
The way to do it is to first relax the requirement that Israel must spend over 70% of the money in the US. Then Israel can buy more arms from their own manufacturers who develop weapons specialized to their needs. That in turn makes their domestic industry more robust and allows for greater ability to also sell weapons as exports. Then, aid money can start being reduced and Israel has less of a strike against it steming from being a recipient of US aid. Not sure how much US arms manufacturers will like that, though.
I have been critical of Biden, and think he really needs to stop trying to buy Iran because Iran isn’t for sale.
Biden had Israel’s back right to Neyanyahu’s deal to get some hostages back.
There was never a likelihood of new offensive after that, or even any permanent gains, or even getting back all hostages agreed.
We should be glad Joe Biden has the spine to allow an offensive against Hamas to resume at all.
This is not a Joe Biden problem, this is a Netanyahu issue. If you feel the deal was good the credit goes to Netanyahu, if you feel the war should have gone to victory the blame also belongs to Netanyahu.
The blame belongs to Netanyahu, but Biden, like all US presidents, treats Israel like a vassal and gives it orders. Netanyahu gets the blame because he obeys those orders. The deal was not Netanyahu’s doing, it was Biden’s, but Netanyahu should have had the spine to resist it.
It is all Joe Biden’s fault. Immediately after 10/7, Biden should have gone on national TV and told about the slaughter of both Israelis and American citizens and hostages taken. Then he should have issued an ultimatum to Iran that all hostages held by its client Hamas were to be immediately released or Iran would be bombed to pieces, with some bombing of their oil facilities concurrent with the speech as a message. That is what a real leader would have done. IMO we would have had all the hostages back in a week and changed the dynamic in the Middle East, whereas most of the hostages may now end up dead and we have the status quo over there..
I very much agree. If we started kicking Iran’s ass they would not have the resources to promote all these terrorists. If I had my way Iran would be stomped back to pedophile Mo’s time.
Neutralizing Iran would make the world a better place.
No, dragging the US into a war with Iran is not a good idea. Especially with the likelihood that Iran already has at least one or two nuclear weapons.
If my memory serves me right, the client-state thing really revved up after the 1973 war. At that time, I saw Israel stepping into a trap.
It did, and even more after Camp David.
But the aid during the war was vital. Israel would not have survived without it. Kissinger wanted to let Israel bleed a little (I believe those were his exact words) so it would be more desperate and more pliable. Nixon figured correctly that a better way for him to get his way with Israel would be to rescue it immediately and then call in the debt. Gratitude would get better results than desperation.
Because unless Israel kowtows to Pres. Turnip for Brains and what he wants he’ll veto any legislation passed by Congress to give Israel monetary aid to wage their war with Hamas. Or he will withhold the aid already authorized to Israel It’s the “carrot & the stick” thing. You do what the Turnip demands or he’ll certainly punish you in some manner.
The WH thinks because they send money to Israel they can tell Israel what to do.
They think it because it’s true. And it’s not just “Turnip for Brains”; every single US president has been like that, even Trump, though he was better than most.
Israel should just politely listen then carry on the war in the way they think best to destroy Hamas and safeguard their nation.
The Obama loyalists running the Biden administration are and have been anti Israel and anti American.
If the Democrats want to run on a pro Hamas platform in 2024 they would be flying their true colors.
Agreed. But Biden has the power to stop resupply of badly needed munitions, from Iron Dome rocket to rifle bullets.
If Biden does halt support to critical defense supplies it will create a political firestorm of immense magnitude.
If Biden carries out his threat then the table is set for Congress and all political discussion for the next year.
Biden and the Democrats supporting terror and monsters vs his opponents supporting civilization and the triumph of good over evil.
Might as well get it out in the open and fight the battle now vs at a time more advantageous to the forces of evil.
If he actually did it, then the firestorm wouldn’t do Israel any good. But what I think you meant is that the Dems know the firestorm it would create, so they would never do it, and Israel should take advantage of that.
Milhouse I agree that team Biden would back down. The optics of openly supporting evil vs good is too much even for the Obama hard core leftists and Muslim Brotherhood clan.
However, if pushed I think Israel can and should crush Hamas with temporary reduced US support.
The message to Hezbolla, West Bank terrorists and Iran would be clear. Attack the nation of Israel and you WILL face devastating consequences.
The domestic result in the US IMO would be a massive repudiation of Democrats in red and most swing states.
Actually, if Biden halted transfers, especially items like missile defense systems, then Israel would have no choice but to be far more brutal in its self defense and more helpless Arabs who people call “Palestinians” would get killed.
“If Biden does halt support to critical defense supplies it will create a political firestorm of immense magnitude.”
It will also – horrors – cause a 1/2% drop in “the Jewish vote” for Democrats.
Lest no one forget, Israel has nuclear weapons. I doubt it would choose to succumb as a nation in lieu of using them. The USA best not forget that.
That would probably require Israel to purchase the American bullets, rockets, etc on the black market from the Ukrainian oligarchs who control the money and weapons we send to that nation.
Ironically, since Hamas is the government elected by the Palestinian people, their terror actions are violations of international law. By following international law in terms of warfare, Israel will always have one hand tied behind their backs. Hamas won’t.
Others beet me to that response. I hope Israel responds with many FU bombs to areas of those Gazan’s who support Hamas, Specifically target families and in-laws of Hamas. When Gazans come out to celebrate, give them a taste of Napalm. Whenever new hostages are taken, target those who support Hamas. Those who breed to produce martyrs are just as guilty as Hamas.
Too many American politicians, too many bureaucrats, too many ambassadors, too much Western media involved with emotional stories made for Western audiences but only serve to embolden Hamas..
As others have commented, what makes the WH think it has the right to put conditions on what Israel does? It’s the same arrogance that makes them think they have the right to tell us what to do and not do with our daily lives – masks, shots, what we say, what we watch, what we eat.
I hope Israel tells them to pound sand. And then prepares for things like the failure of the missile shield in the Red Sea (shooting down stuff coming out of Yemen). Biden’s handlers will do it, just out of spite.
Hmm and Ukraine of course they have dictated the same to the little communist comedian?
Bibi has already made too many mistakes
Israel won’t survive a “political “ war, which America has been doing since Korea
Don’t do it Bibi
I’m
Pretty sure there are gun dealers out there willing to make buck
There is no truce between Ukraine and Russia, the entire reason Ukraine threw out tens of thousands of lives, and hard to replace equipment in a longshot offensive nobody seriously thought was going to win hoping to catch the Russians off guard was western pressure to try and bring the war to a close.
Ukraine has made a major blunder just this summer to please the western powers into continuing support for Ukraine.
Mr. 10% is in the driver’s seat.
USA should have control over what US resources are being applied to.
Unfortunately, Mr. 10% is not smart and does not know what he is doing.
Could Israel survive without US support?
I’m pretty sure that Jimmy Carter is secretly advising Biden behind the scenes. That would explain a lot.
Obama
https://www.breitbart.com/middle-east/2023/11/28/source-biden-pressure-israeli-tactics-will-leave-hamas-intact-and-in-power/
Biden pressure tactics or Netanyahu policy?
Nobody thought there would be a renewed offensive at all when Netanyahu announced the hostage deal.
It was the call of Netanyahu and happened when there wasn’t any American pressure.
Not true. First of all, what do you mean “nobody thought”? Netanyahu promised exactly that, and some people were naive enough to believe him. Second, there was massive American pressure; without that the deal would not have happened.
FJB can talk that way to Israel because, contrary to antisemitic conspiracy theories, Israel answers to America far more than America answers to Israel.
It’s of little consequence to America but of great — and often detrimental — consequence to Israel.
You looked better in your other picture.
In the interest of helping 2 species of threatened sharks, from the river to the sea, drive Hamas and their supporters annually to the sea. Gaza is way overpopulated, this would give them a chance to atone.
“The sharks in Hadera belong to two main species that are facing global risk of extinction – the dusky shark (Carcharhinus obscurus) and the sandbar shark (Carcharhinus plumbeus). They come to the site in the winter months, between November and March. The phenomenon was first noticed about a decade ago.”
I read somewhere (it may have been an essay on Tablet Magazine) that Israeli munitions supplies are dependent upon the U.S. DoD. The author stated that this means that the Pentagon effectively controls any protracted IDF military operation. If DoD won’t re-supply the IDF’s munitions stocks, that will totally undermine its intent to wage a long-term war to eliminate Hamas’s presence in Gaza.
The vile and evil Dhimmi-crats are doing what they’ve always done — give succor, moral and political support to Muslim supremacists, terrorists and Isalmofascists, while undermining Israeli safety and security.
Let me get this straight. The US pressured Israel to allow the movement of civilians from the battle areas in northern Gaza, and now it’s decided it didn’t like the displacement of civilians (that it encouraged) and doesn’t want it to happen again. Does Biden want more civilians killed because they aren’t able to get out of the way of Israeli combat operations? No, he wants Israel to pull its punches for fear of international blowback over civilian casualties. Either way, he’s a POS. He wants to deny to the Israelis that which we insisted upon in WW II – unconditional surrender, complete destruction of the enemy’s ability to wage war, and a change in government and political leadership in the vanquished state.
It is the ultimate goal of the Left [including Democrats] to make the “From the River to the Sea” threat reality. The Left is not really all that good at figuring out the concept of consequences for their ideologically based actions until it is too late. Backing Israel into a corner [and while the Left does not remember the Holocaust, Israel does] may have some downsides.
Bear with me, because long ago [40 years ago, I’m getting old.] I used to have a sideline writing for professional military and naval journals. I know a bit about the field.
The following information is available from open, reliable, sources. Feel free to check.. Israel is estimated to have between 80-400 nuclear weapons. No, they have not been publicly tested, but there are plenty of indications from the building of the appropriate infrastructure to a certain double flash of light in the Indian Ocean in 1979 and the circumstances around it. Feel free to check for yourselves. Israelis are really good a keeping classified matters classified, by the way, as the size of the arsenal has been the same on open sources for decades. Toss in their technological base and the threatened neighborhood they are in, and the history of their people; and yes pretty much everyone in the business accepts that they have nukes. The question is how many and delivery means. Even at the low end of the range, times can get interesting.
We can assume gravity bombs, plus various missiles both cruise and ballistic. Let me toss in a couple more terms. When dealing with nukes, counter-value targeting is against things like cities which are not hardened and whose loss will harm the targeted nation. Counter-force targeting is against hardened weapons that can hit back and requires much more precise targeting.
Now, something that NASA will not tell you. If you can launch a 350 lb satellite into a 250 mile high orbit, and consistently pick the orbit, y’all have a counter-value ICBM. Israel has launched satellites meeting those parameters.
Now there is a question of how many of what type of warhead and delivery systems they have. But I think that it is not unreasonable to postulate that convincing a nation in that position that they are going to be wiped out eventually, with the approval of what was their former main ally, may lead to events based on the concept that, “if we are going down, we are not going down alone”.
Just because the Left does not believe in consequences for their actions and choices does not mean that they will not exist.
Something to think about.
Subotai Bahadur
Well said Subotai.
People forget that when Israel declared statehood in 1948 they stood alone virtually unarmed against not only the vastly more numerous Arab irregular forces in Israel and what is now the West Bank, but also the professional modern armies of Egypt, Syria and Jordan.
Although America did recognize Israel at the last minute it was over the strenuous objection of Secretary of State Marshall and most of the DC establishment.
I haven’t checked but don’t believe we provided much or perhaps any material support to Israel in that desperate battle for survival.
The resolve of the Israeli people to maintain their homeland as a refuge for Jewish people fleeing persecution should not be underestimated.
Indeed the US provided no support at all, and actively blocked arms from arriving; they had to be smuggled in. Truman also wanted to withdraw the recognition but there was enough pressure on him not to.
Ironically the only one who helped Israel in the 1948-49 war was Stalin. Czechoslovakia, which was under his control, sent surplus weapons, which helped Israel survive. He hoped that this would bring Israel into the communist world, especially since the Israeli government was socialist and had a strong communist wing. But after the war the government made a strategic decision not to do that, and to try to court the USA instead, so Stalin turned against it and started supporting the Arabs instead.
I learned something..I didn’t know that.. thank u
That wasn’t covered in HS college or any of the military training I have had.
Probably the only laudable thing that Stalin ever did, in his wretched life.
I will throw something here down vote me all u want
Israel is GOD’S chosen people.
HE may have something to say to Mr. Biden. N company.
“I will bless then that bless u n curse them that curse u.”
Maybe we can trade ALL the california and new york liberal democrats (and the squad) for the Israeli’s even up.
Sure Israel will get lots more people in the trade but those liberals will make a beneficial peace with hamass and the region will flourish with love and respect.
I had a satellite dish install in Tel Aviv. I had a super hot 21 year old “handler” that was with me all the time except for the time I was in the satellite farm building the dish with two Israeli IFD commo techs. A café that we stopped at a few times was blown up by a suicide bomber about a half hour after we were there. A rocket landed in the street were traveling on. It was a dud but it did manage to total a delivery truck when it bounced on the road. That was peacetime normal life in Tele Aviv.
The attacks were unprovoked. It was just hateful muslims trying to kill Jews. These muslims raise their children to0 hate Jews and Christians. There is only one cure.
This is what happens when the president is willing to make a deal with Iran at any price and cost as opposed to standing by an ally and whose support of Israel is an example of why talk is cheap
Israel is well aware that America is a great ally until it stabs itself in the back.
That’s because it wasn’t a ceasefire, it was a hudna.
They’re the same thing.
The IDF needs to use the rules of war set by Hamas, manufacture their own weapons, and ignore the ROW. Israel has recognized they are in a fight for survival. I hope they conduct war with that in mind. If the US can tell the difference between Hamas and innocent civilians they should tell Israel how to do it or better still the US should evacuate such innocent civilians so Israel can conduct the business of saving itself.
I trust Bibi to conduct this war in the interests of Israel. Right now I believe Bibi has decided it is in the best interests to extract as many hostages as possible, I also expect the cease fire to be extended as other hostages are released. Once that is done, you can assume the rest have been murdered and then move in for a ruthless kill. Let the west evacuate civilians by sea to the Turkish part of Cyprus.After all, Erdogan is asking to help. Let the Turks deal with it.
the idea that fjb will somehow dictate/determine the roe for israel is ridiculous–given the proven methods / intent of hamas / hezebollah, etc is a valid conclusion that there are no rules for the terrorists and they will kill israelis (whether combatant or innocent civilian) with impunity–enough–may the israelis continue and destroy hamas / hezebollah, etc. completely and ” by any means necessary ”
the threat of nukes has been an effective deterrent for decades–introducing them into the engagement by anyone will move the conflict into another realm–surely bibi knows this–he is fighting for his country’s survival–fjb, despite all the clamor and the support of the media, is at base a feckless grifter and a burden in this world
Biden will prove duplicitous – he will kowtow to the unhinged radical left.
Israel needs to end Hamas ASAP
Trump will be back soon enough – full support and the will to achieve actual peace and cooperation in the middle-east