US Officials Trying To Convince Israel That Reducing Palestinian Deaths in its Own Interest
Indiscriminate killing only will radicalize more Palestinians, they say
Top US officials now are trying to convince the Israeli government that it's in its own interest not to slaughter thousands of Palestinian children and other civilians.
This is as opposition is mounting to the willingness of the Israeli military to kill thousands of civilians in Gaza as part of its fight against Hamas for the October 7 attacks Hamas launched against Israel.
Operations by the Israeli military in Gaza have only intensified, including at least two strikes on a refugee camp.
In all, the number of Palestinian dead is approaching 10,000, including at least 3,648 children and 2,187 women.
Meanwhile, close to 2,000 Israelis have died, mostly in the initial October 7 attacks by Hamas.
Although President Biden and other US government officials have been steadfast in their support for Israel in the weeks after October 7, cracks are beginning to emerge as Palestinian civilian deaths soar.
Some US officials are increasingly and publicly trying to convince Israel that if it won't back a more humanitarian approach for its own sake, to do so out of self-interest.
“So, let me first be clear, I don’t think we can square the world’s order, I don’t think we can protect America nor Israel if Hamas can’t held accountable. And so I believe that Israel has to continue the fight to end Hamas’ military capabilities to be able to strike Israel again,” said Sen Chris Murphy (D-Conn), one of those most often speaking out on this issue in recent days. “I simply believe that the current level of civilian casualties inside Gaza is too high, both from a moral perspective and a strategic perspective.
“What we have learned in our own country’s counterterrorism operations is that when you are too permissive of civilian casualties, you kill a lot of militants but you also create a lot of terrorists as well because that civilian harm becomes bulletin board material for terrorist recruiters,” Murphy added. “So, I want to see Hamas’ military capabilities defeated. I want to see Israel keep up this fight. But with 3,000 children dead inside Gaza today, that number is just simply too high.”
Rep Elissa Slotkin (D-Mich) has firsthand experience with this issue in her earlier career as a CIA analyst who served three tours in Iraq.
“Well, obviously, this one rings home for me because I did, you know, three tours alongside the military in Iraq, so I’ve seen this up close. I don’t think anyone is questioning Israel having a right to respond to the perpetrators of this terrorist attack,” said Slotkin, also a candidate for US Senate in next year's elections. “It was a grievous, grievous attack. But I think our experience after 9/11 is actually instructive here, right? I mean, we took a second, we did a bombing campaign in Afghanistan and began over a decades-long hunt for the perpetrators of this attack. We also went ahead and occupied Afghanistan and invaded and occupied Iraq.
“And I think if you ask most Americans, in hindsight, they would have said, ‘Hey, you know, a bombing campaign, going after the perpetrators, that’s one option that might have made more sense, as opposed to 20 years of war,’” she added. “So I think that for those of us who served in places like Fallujah and Ramadi, we just want to make sure there is an end game that is not fantasy, that is actually real.
“We want to make sure that you don’t create more terrorists by the way that you act. And we want to make sure that we get the people who perpetrated this attack. You can want all those things all at the same time,” Slotkin said. “Sometimes, being a good ally and a good partner is telling those hard lessons from our own experience.”
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