Joe has to be the dumbest f-ckhead that ever lived! Sorry...that was over the top. I mean't dumbest President that ever lived. Hmm...perhaps I'm not giving LBJ sufficient credit. Where was I?
Why are we involved with this? Why are we shipping military hardware and an money to support this ridiculously run invasion and then taking responsibility for cleaning up Israel's mess? They did it. They own it.
Maybe with luck Hamas will help from Iran will bomb our new humanitarian port and draw us further into this mess. What could go wrong?
I guess we don't have any problems at home. Beyond belief.
Biden to Announce Establishment of Emergency Port in Gaza to Facilitate Aid
In arguably the most important speech of his presidency, Biden will announce in Thursday night's State of the Union address that U.S. military will lead emergency mission to establish Gaza port for aid delivery – as 17 relatives of Americans held captive or killed by Hamas look on.
Ben Samuels, Jack Khoury, & Yaniv Kubovich, Haaretz News
Mar 7, 2024 6:08 pm IST
WASHINGTON – U.S. President Joe Biden will announce during the State of the Union that he will be directing the U.S. military to lead an emergency mission to establish a port in the Mediterranean on the Gaza coast that can receive large ships carrying food, water, medicine and temporary shelters, according to U.S. officials.
The port's main feature of a temporary pier will provide the capacity for hundreds of additional truckloads of assistance every day, per senior officials, while the U.S. will coordinate with Israel on the security requirements while working with the UN and humanitarian NGOs on distribution.
"He'll talk about the horrific attacks on October 7 and Israel's right to go after Hamas and those responsible, but also Israel's added burden given that Hamas hides, hides and operates amongst the civilian population, Israel's fundamental responsibility to protect innocent civilians and also to address the humanitarian crisis in Gaza," a senior U.S. official said.
The initial shipments will arrive via Cyprus, enabled by the U.S. military and a coalition of partners and allies. It will take several weeks to plan and execute the maritime initiative, though the forces required to complete the mission are either already in the region or will arrive soon.
An Israeli official said they welcome and fully support the U.S. plan to deploy a temporary dock in Gaza to deliver humanitarian aid. However, Gazans see the plan as a PR move, aimed at diverting attention from Washington's inability or unwillingness to end the war.
Gazans active in aid organizations who spoke with Haaretz say large amounts of aid are piling up at Egypt's El-Arish Airport, and trucks are ready to ferry the aid into Gaza. "Setting up the floating port and arranging the logistics will take weeks," one worker said. "And until then, what will happen? People will continue dying in Gaza and Israel will have more time to attack?"
The effort to establish an emergency port in Gaza builds upon the Cyprus-proposed Amalthea initiative, the official added, which provides a platform at the Port of Larnaca for the transloading of assistance and screening by Israeli officials of Gaza-bound goods. The U.S. military will lead the effort in the first instance, though it is intended to transition to a commercially operated facility over time. The operation, however, will not require U.S. boots on the ground.
"The U.S. military has unique capabilities as we have been looking at the situation, and working with partners and allies and working on commercial options, they can do things from just offshore that is extraordinary," the official said.
U.S. military personnel will not be required to go ashore to install the pier or causeway facility that will allow the transportation of aid, a senior Defense Department official noted.
"We know that the aid flowing into Gaza is nowhere near enough and nowhere near fast enough. The President will make clear again this evening that we all need to do more, and that the United States is doing more and we are seeking to use every channel possible to get additional assistance into Gaza," a second senior U.S. official said.
Despite the initiative, U.S. officials continue to believe that Israel must allow more aid into Gaza via land as the most efficient and cost-effective way.
One official noted that Israel has prepared a new land crossing directly into Gaza allowing for aid to flow directly into northern Gaza. The UN confirmed that the first deliveries will begin transiting over the coming week, beginning with a pilot program before ramping up. Israel further committed to increasing the capacity of the direct land route from Jordan to the Kerem Shalom to 50 or more trucks per day transiting.
"The president is working hour by hour to negotiate an immediate and sustained cease-fire in Gaza over a period of at least six weeks as part of a deal that would release hostages, and get significantly more humanitarian aid in," an official said. "And he wants enduring peace in the region so that Palestinians and Israelis can live with security, dignity in two states – something he is actively working towards every day," he added.
As the war has continued, U.S. priorities have undoubtedly shifted toward alleviating Gaza's humanitarian crisis as a result of Israel's military response.
Biden has encountered significant difficulty pushing Israel to minimize civilian casualties and to better facilitate the entry and distribution of humanitarian assistance into Gaza, causing a notable rift between him and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
U.S. officials, long disillusioned with the Israeli premier, have become increasingly convinced that Netanyahu is in thrall to the whims of his far-right coalition partners. As a result, they have tried to empower more moderate members of the war cabinet such as Benny Gantz while openly critiquing extremist figures like Bezalel Smotrich and Itamar Ben-Gvir.
The State of the Union speech is arguably Biden's most important to date, providing him with one of his largest and most captive audiences prior to the November election rematch with Donald Trump. White House Chief of Staff Jeff Zients told Politico on Thursday that Biden will address the war "head-on."
The speech will be edited up until Biden's delivery and will feature Israel, demonstrating how much the October 7 attack and ensuing Gaza war have upended the president's Middle East policy. Israel was not even mentioned in the previous two State of the Union addresses, nor was it mentioned in Biden's 2021 address to a joint session of Congress.
Illustrating how front-of-mind the conflict will be, 17 relatives of Americans held captive or killed by Hamas will be in attendance as guests of a bipartisan slate of U.S. lawmakers – including House Speaker Mike Johnson and Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries.
The president will likely use his speech to address bigger points of consideration beyond the immediate crisis in Gaza and establishment of an emergency port, such as his vision for a two-state solution empowered by post-Gaza reconstruction and a revitalized Palestinian Authority, as well as Israel's regional integration and potential normalization with Saudi Arabia.
He may also highlight the steps his administration has taken in holding Israel more accountable, such as his landmark executive order clearing the path to sanction settlers endangering the West Bank's stability, as well as overturning the Trump policy of recognizing settlements as legal under international law.
U.S. officials were hoping to land a six-week cease-fire prior to the address – both to serve as a key deliverable in Biden's remarks, as well as landing the deal before Ramadan while Mideast tensions are running so high.
"We'll know in a couple days if it's going to happen,'' Biden said of the cease-fire earlier this week. "If we get into a circumstance where this continues through Ramadan … it could be very, very dangerous. So, we're looking − we're trying hard for that cease-fire.''
Biden has delivered several landmark addresses in the aftermath of October 7 that helped define both the U.S. response to the deadliest attack in Israel's history and his legacy as a pro-Israel president.
Biden, as well as Vice President Kamala Harris, have laid down their rhetorical red line in recent days, telling Israel "no more excuses" about the need to dramatically boost aid entering Gaza.
He has also linked the response to domestic antisemitism, which has reached record highs over the past several months – even after the prevalence of the issue necessitated the establishment of a national strategy to combat anti-Jewish hate.
Biden's address will likely address these points, as well as actions his administration has taken against the Houthis in Yemen and efforts to de-escalate tensions on the Israel-Lebanon border as the threat of war with Hezbollah remains.
Thursday's address comes against the backdrop of growing disillusionment among the vast majority of Democrats over Israel's actions in Gaza, with warnings of widespread famine and disease dominating the public discourse.
This has manifested in key states like Michigan and Minnesota, where elements of Biden's electoral bloc have voted "uncommitted" in protest of his administration's policies on the Israel-Hamas conflict.
Biden's address comes exactly a week after the aid convoy incident that led to the death of more than 100 Palestinians – which U.S. officials consider both an embodiment of flawed Israeli policy, as well as evidence of the need for a different U.S. approach.
This has included the implementation of aid airdrops – welcomed by Democratic lawmakers desperate for more U.S. involvement, but criticized by the aid community as an ineffectual drop in the bucket. The drops aim to increase pressure on Israel to open more entry points and be more discriminate in targeting security forces accompanying aid convoys, while the administration is also mulling the establishment of a sea corridor, though that provides its own set of complications.
Biden, as well as Vice President Kamala Harris, have laid down their rhetorical red line in recent days, telling Israel "no more excuses" about the need to dramatically boost aid entering Gaza.
The State of the Union comes as the U.S. administration continues to press Israel not to invade Rafah until it provides a credible plan to account for the million-plus Palestinians currently sheltering in the southern city. While Biden has publicly expressed opposition to an Israeli military operation, key Democrats – including Biden's closest allies – have gone as far as to warn that an invasion would jeopardize the legality of U.S. arms sales to Israel.
Per Biden's national security memorandum signed in February, U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken has until March 25 to certify that Israel has formally committed to abide by international law while using U.S.-supplied weapons, as well as committing not to obstruct to the provision of humanitarian assistance.
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