Former US officials to Biden: Be tougher on Israel

Nearly 70 former US officials, diplomats and military officers on Wednesday urged President Joe Biden to warn Israel of “serious consequences” if it denies civil rights and basic necessities to Palestinian Arabs and expands “settlement activity” in Judea and Samaria.

“The United States must be willing to take concrete action to oppose” such practices, the group said in an open letter to Biden quoted by Reuters, “including restrictions on provision of (U.S.) assistance (to Israel) consistent with US law and policy.”

Among the signatories were more than a dozen former ambassadors, as well as other retired State Department officials and former Pentagon, intelligence and White House officials, including Anthony Lake, a national security adviser to former President Bill Clinton.

In its letter, the group said that an Israeli military operation against Hamas was “necessary and justified” but also claimed that Israel’s operations “have been marked by repeated violations” of international law banning indiscriminate killing and the use of weapons that do not permit discrimination between combatants and civilians.

“Tens of thousands of Gazan civilians have been killed, the majority of whom are women and children,” the group said. “Civilian killings of this nature and magnitude cannot be justified.”

The group said it strongly backs Biden’s call for an immediate truce of at least six weeks, the establishment of a reliable humanitarian aid delivery system, and the release of hostages.

The letter comes amid rising tensions between the Biden administration and the Israeli government. Biden was initially supportive of Israel’s operation in Gaza, but has been more critical lately.

During a recent interview with MSNBC, Biden said that an Israeli invasion of Rafah would be a red line but also said in the same breath that crossing it would not result in punitive measures against Israel.

“It is a red line, but I am never going to leave Israel,” Biden said. “The defense of Israel is still critical, so there’s no red line I’m going to cut off all weapons.”

National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan later tried to walk back those comments.

Politico recently reported that Biden would consider conditioning some future military aid to Israel if there was a major campaign in Rafah, but Sullivan said that and other similar stories were “uninformed speculation.”