The president, in a phone call, said that the overall humanitarian situation in Gaza was “unacceptable.”

President Joe Biden on Thursday spoke with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu for the first time since an airstrike killed seven humanitarian aid workers in Gaza.

During the call, the White House said Biden warned that U.S. policy toward the crisis will be determined by Israel’s immediate efforts to address civilian harm and the security of aid workers.

“President Biden emphasized that the strikes on humanitarian workers and the overall humanitarian situation are unacceptable,” a White House readout of the call said. “He made clear the need for Israel to announce and implement a series of specific, concrete, and measurable steps to address civilian harm, humanitarian suffering, and the safety of aid workers. He made clear that U.S. policy with respect to Gaza will be determined by our assessment of Israel’s immediate action on these steps.”

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  • livus@kbin.social
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    8 months ago

    This honestly reminds me of that meme where the dog only barks and snarls at the other dog when the gate is between them and whenever it opens he shuts up.

  • mlg@lemmy.world
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    8 months ago

    Not that Israel will actually listen or Biden actually follow through with his request, but what exactly does he mean by “policy”?

    Is he gonna stop giving 5% discount on bomb purchases after the IDF inevitably kills more aid workers?

    I don’t think he’s ever once mentioned any actual consequences besides “threaten relations”

  • assassin_aragorn@lemmy.world
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    8 months ago

    This doesn’t create material changes, and I’m doubtful that it actually will, but the silver lining is that this is a pretty big change geopolitically. Just saying “get your fucking act together or we’re going to reconsider aid” is significant.

    Course, it would be a lot more significant if it was followed up by action, and I hope that it is.

  • givesomefucks@lemmy.world
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    8 months ago

    The tone of the official White House readout Thursday was notably more critical than the previous one following Biden’s March 18 call with Netanyahu. In that readout, Biden was said to have “stressed the urgent need to significantly increase the flow of lifesaving aid reaching those in need throughout Gaza,” according to the White House; and he “reiterated his deep concerns about the prospect of Israel conducting a major ground operation in Rafah.”

    At this rate maybe Biden will stop giving them billions of dollars a year in a century or two…

    Maybe the same thing that happens to literally every single human as we age is also effecting 81 year old Biden…

    This is for a number of reasons. For the 80-year-old, their life probably doesn’t look too different than it did when they were 78 or 79, “so, in that case, they’re looking back on fewer events,” Lustig said. “When you’re looking back, the less rich your representation is, the more it’s going to seem like the time went by quickly.”

    In other words, our brains lump time together when the days or weeks are similar. So for an 80-year-old who largely does the same thing every day, the year is going to blend together in their mind and feel like it went by quickly.

    https://lsa.umich.edu/psych/news-events/all-news/faculty-news/time-flies-by-faster-as-we-get-older--here-s-why-.html

    You can say being president is a new experience…

    But Biden has spent literally a lifetime in federal government, 8 years as VP, and 4 years as president.

    Biden very likely feels like he’s handling things ridiculously fast, but that’s just because at 80 years old you’re basically on cruise control.

    And we need more than that in a president during the best of times.

    Biden is better than trump, but that’s not a unique trait