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Zionist Organization of America National President Morton A. Klein released the following statement:
After briefly mentioning: Hamas’ sexual violence and massacre of 1,200 innocent people on October 7th; the need to bring the hostages home; the fact that “Hamas could end this conflict today by releasing the hostages, laying down arms, and surrendering those responsible for October 7”; and stating that Israel has the right to go after Hamas, Biden outrageously spent almost three times as long falsely castigating and making dangerous demands on Israel during Biden’s March 7, 2024 State of the Union (SOTU) address. Biden’s policies are clearly intended to harm Israel and inadvertently support Hamas and radical Arabs. Among other things:
(1) Biden hypocritically claimed to be a great friend of Israel while demanding a Palestinian state “solution” that imperils Israel’s very existence.
Biden rewards Arab terrorism by wrongly calling for the creation of a Palestinian terror state on Israel’s longest border adjacent to 70% of Israel’s population on Israel’s lawful land, as the “only solution” and “only path.” A Palestinian state would endanger Israel’s very existence, cause more October 7ths and more rockets to fall on innocent Israelis, and reward and encourage more terrorism. On October 7, Palestinian Authority terrorists filmed themselves bragging about participating in the massacre of Jews, including killing Jews and stepping on their heads. 85% of Palestinians support Hamas’ atrocities on October 7th. The Israeli people and Israeli leadership thus oppose a Palestinian state, across the board.
Moreover, the Palestinian leadership firmly maintains that Hamas would be part of a Palestinian state. Biden’s demand for such a terror state thus contradicts his brief lip service that Israel has the right to go after Hamas. (See also “ZOA Strongly Opposes Dangerous Biden Plan for Palestinian Authority (Pay-to-Slay) Terror Regime to Rule Gaza & Create a State,” Jan. 10, 2024, for more details as to why a Palestinian state is untenable.)
(2) Biden overstated number of Gazans displaced and “under bombardment,” and never mentioned that 200,000 Israelis are still displaced, living in hotels and people’s homes and tents due to Hamas, Hezbollah and other Iranian proxies’ destruction of their homes and communities and continuing bombardment; or that all of Israel is under the threat of rocket and other attacks. And that southern and northern Israel is now uninhabitable. Tiny Israel is now even tinier.
Biden also decried “Homes destroyed, neighborhoods in rubble, cities in ruin” in Gaza. But Biden said nothing about the numerous “Homes destroyed, neighborhoods in rubble, cities in ruin” throughout northern and southern Israel. Moreover, the Israeli homes burnt and destroyed were the homes of innocent Israelis sleeping in their beds. The homes destroyed in Gaza were homes that harbored Hamas rocket launchers, terror tunnel entrances and terrorists shooting at Israelis. Israel is not carpet-bombing Gaza. Shame on Biden for attempting to give such a false impression.
(3) Biden wrongly demanded that Israel must make assisting and protecting Gazans Israel’s first priority. In other words, according to Biden, Israel’s objectives of rescuing the hostages, preventing attacks on Israeli civilians, and eliminating Hamas’ terror army must take a back seat to assisting Gazans who overwhelmingly support Hamas massacring Jews who danced in the streets, rejoicing the murders, rapes and torturing of Jews.
Biden’s demand to prioritize Gazan civilians above all else ignores and violates international law. In fact, under international law, the anticipated military advantage of an operation (e.g., to eliminate Hamas’ terror army, prevent attacks against Israeli civilians and rescue the hostages) is weighed against the prospective harm to civilians. A military operation can go forward if the harm to civilians is not excessively out of proportion to the operation’s prospective military advantage. Israel carefully weighs every military operation under international law standards, and often calls off operations when civilians may be hurt. Israel is in fact the most moral army in the world. A far lower proportion of Gazan civilians have been harmed than in virtually any other war around the world, including wars prosecuted by the U.S.
Further, under international law, there is no obligation to supply aid to an enemy population. Israel is also not required to allow others to supply aid to the civilian population if – as is the case here – there is a reasonable concern that the aid will be diverted to military use. Hamas seizes the aid and uses it for its war effort.
(4) Biden parroted Hamas’ unverified casualty numbers as fact.
Biden parroted unverified Hamas and Hamas-controlled numbers when Biden stated: “More than 30,000 Palestinians have been killed. Most of whom are not Hamas. Thousands and thousands are innocent women and children. Girls and boys also orphaned.”
According to the IDF – which is reliable - at least 12,000 casualties are Hamas terrorists. Moreover, a recent article by AEI Distinguished Fellow Danielle Pletka details huge discrepancies in Hamas’ numbers; Hamas math simply does not add up. Further, Hamas is responsible for all civilian deaths, as it embeds itself among civilians and caused this war.
Interestingly, Biden previously acknowledged that Hamas’ figures are utterly unreliable.
Back on October 25, 2023, Biden stated at a press conference that he had “no confidence in the [casualty] number that the Palestinians are using.” And on October 26, 2023, National Security Council spokesman John Kirby similarly stated, regarding Palestinian casualty numbers: “We all know that the Gazan Ministry of Health is just a front for Hamas. It’s a — it’s run by Hamas, a terrorist organization. I’ve said it myself up here: We can’t take anything coming out of Hamas, including the so-called Ministry of Health, at face value.” Why has Biden forgotten and ignored this?
And has Biden also forgotten Hamas’ false claim that Israel bombed Al-Ahli Hospital and killed almost 500 civilians there – when in fact a misfired Palestinian Islamic Jihad rocket hit the hospital parking lot and caused minimal casualties?
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