Sen. Chris Murphy (D., Conn.), chairman of the Foreign Relations subcommittee on the Middle East, made positive noises about the idea Sunday. “We regularly condition our aid to allies based upon compliance with U.S. law and international law,” he said, adding, “I think that you can defeat Hamas without this level of civilian casualty,” which he calls “unacceptable.”
Asked on Friday, President Biden said conditioning aid is “a worthwhile thought,” but “I don’t think if I started off with that, we’d ever gotten to where we are today. We have to take this a piece at a time.”
Not for the first time, Democrats are following Sen. Bernie Sanders (I., Vt.), who called for the condition on Thursday. “We cannot be complicit in actions that violate international law,” he wrote. “That includes an end to indiscriminate bombing.” Mr. Sanders is responding to the increasingly loud street protests against Israel by the Democratic left.
This is an example of how the proposal to condition aid is linked to the libels against Israel that one hears whenever it defends itself. Israel’s counteroffensive has been the opposite of indiscriminate. Forced by Hamas to fight in a densely populated urban area, Israel has hit more than 15,000 targets. If those had been indiscriminate strikes, the death toll would be many times higher than even Hamas claims.
Narrow down the conversation to these participants:
@ISIDEWITH2yrs2Y
If U.S. aid to Israel were conditioned on reducing civilian casualties, how might that change your view on the conflict?
@9H8QMWQ2yrs2Y
It will make it put America in a better situation instead of ignoring what Israel is doing
@9H8TJQG2yrs2Y
America should worry about itself, first and foremost, but it also shouldn't support the perpetrator of a genocide (Israel).
@9H8XMZHRepublican2yrs2Y
I'd be in more support of going in and settling the chaos in any way necessary if I knew that innocent civilians were less likely to get seriously injured.
@9H8VYWM2yrs2Y
I don't really know how to feel about this to honest
@9H8ZXQ22yrs2Y
i believe strongly that U.S. aid should be conditional, and the conditions should be that humanitarian violations and collective punishment of the Palestinian people should come to an end. We are funding and providing weapons that are being used against innocent children and civilians.
@9H8YC652yrs2Y
israel is commiting a genocide in gaza, we should require them to stop bombing neighborhoods filled with innocent people
The U.S. should help its allies in need.
@9H8Z7PZ2yrs2Y
I think the US should stop providing aid for Israel because in doing so, it is allowing Israel to kill thousands of innocent people in Palestine.
I am not so sure if we should be involved in the conflict right now or yet.
@9H92W2X2yrs2Y
Hamas is to blame for this entire ordeal. They are the ones who invaded Israel, they are the ones who hide behind their women, they are the ones that cause terror and killing while Israel strives to remove them at all costs. As is justifiable given they have just had their country ravaged and terrorized.
@9H8QLD3Progressive2yrs2Y
I think that the U.S should keep aid to a minimum and focus on domestic issues
@KangarooRod2yrs2Y
Sadly the left wing, Progressive takeover of the Democratic party is nearing completion. Other countries weren't telling us what to do after September 11th, and October 7th for Israel was like 14 September 11th attacks at once, plus a territorial invasion and the taking of 8,000 hostages (on a per capita equivalent basis). Senators with no military experience shouldn't be telling Israel how to fight its wars when Israel proactively warns civilians to stay away from the battlefield and battles a cynical enemy who intentionally hides in hospitals, schools, and within the civilian population.
@WingedFalconIndependent2yrs2Y
This isn’t Vietnam and Gaza isn’t a free fire zone. Nobody bombs indiscriminately these days….except for Hamas and Hezollah. Everyone else uses precise targeting…if only because bombs are expensive and they don’t have Iran to pay for them. Even Russia has targeting…..though they do target civilians. …just like their buddies in the Islamic world. So…people like Bernie just sound ignorant when they comment as they do. I guess it’s good for them that their constituents are equally ignorant in many cases.
@AboardPublicPol1cy2yrs2Y
The purpose is to warn Israel that it will risk losing U.S. support if it tries to complete its mission of toppling Hamas; and that Hamas-induced civilian casualties mean Israel can’t destroy Hamas’s terrorist capabilities.
Is that the emerging position of the Democratic Party?
Why do Democrats support the baby burners?
@AboardPublicPol1cy2yrs2Y
Totally backwards. What international law is Israel violating? The right to self-defense? The laws against using human shields in war? That would be the government of Gaza violating international law. Etc, etc, ad infinitum re: Gaza's government.
@9H9DJ8NProgressive2yrs2Y
What Israel is doing is wrong and innocent Palestinians are being killed. However, Israeli citizens also shouldn’t have to live in fear of terrorism.
@9H995ZH2yrs2Y
Innocent Palestinians are being mass murdered, this is not war, this is genocide. The U.S. should be supporting Palestine, or at least be attempting to stop the havoc of thousands of innocent people, including children, being bombed to death.
@ISIDEWITH2yrs2Y
Should the U.S. hold Israel to the same standards and conditions as it does other allies when it comes to receiving aid?
@9H8RV4Y2yrs2Y
Yes and no. Israel is at war and that should be taken into account.
@9H8RSVR2yrs2Y
Civilian casualties should be avoided if they can be and we should provide aid to those who are not fighting and are following international law.
Yes, It should since they are pretty much continuations of allies.
@9H957N42yrs2Y
I believe the US should support Palestine.
@9H92FXK2yrs2Y
Israel needs this aid currently and Israel should keep aid until the issue is resolved and even than keep the aid
@9H9CHJQ2yrs2Y
The U.S. should place conditions on its aid and should only help innocent civilians because the Israel government is just committing a genocide on Palestine which is not okay.
@9H9MNYG2yrs2Y
Invading Gaza is practically a bad idea and morally wrong. If Israel destroys Gaza, they will
inevitably punish the majority innocent people who wren't on board
with Hamas. Hamas will probably tell their citizens that Israel invaded them for no reasno, and generations
of terrorists with bitter memories of being invaded by Israel will
be born. The invasion is also morally wrong, as such an invasion
punishes so many innocent people. Here
in America, our justice system is set up sov that punishing an innocent for
something they didn't do is as difficult as possible, and we should
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U.S should help the ones who are struggling, those who are not allowed to have freedom in their own land. If the U.S is all about freedom why can't they help palestine.
@9H9FMQV2yrs2Y
I believe that we should at least help with providing essentials for the people of Israel as well as military personals.
@9H9FDSR2yrs2Y
I think it's best to support your own country as much as possible But if another country is in trouble, then other people from another country, and that specific country, need to come together.
@9H9FDK22yrs2Y
The USA should not involve itself in yet another foreign conflict when we have enough domestic problems going on as it is
@9H98VJHIndependent2yrs2Y
Isreal wasnt cleaning the floors with me in my shift.
@BslksdisLibertarian2yrs2Y
I think we already provide enough aid to foreign countries as it is, but regardless, I don’t think a country should dictate how other countries go about fighting their own wars.
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