President Joe Biden signaled the United States will no longer provide Israel with bombs and artillery shells if Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu decides to launch a large-scale invasion of Rafah, Gaza, as part of his war on Hamas.
“Civilians have been killed in Gaza as a consequence of those bombs and other ways in which they go after population centers,” Biden told CNN on Wednesday.
Biden stopped shipments of 2,000-pound bombs last week, with his comments on Wednesday a public acknowledgment that U.S.-supplied weapons have killed civilians in the Palestinian enclave.
“I made it clear that if they go into Rafah — they haven’t gone in Rafah yet — if they go into Rafah, I’m not supplying the weapons that have been used historically to deal with Rafah, to deal with the cities — that deal with that problem,” Biden said.
“We’re going to continue to make sure Israel is secure in terms of Iron Dome and their ability to respond to attacks that came out of the Middle East recently,” he added. “But it’s, it’s just wrong. We’re not going to — we’re not going to supply the weapons and artillery shells.”
Biden’s public line in the sand was quickly criticized as a betrayal of Israel.
“Biden may be committing the most despicable betrayal of an ally in our history,” said former GOP House Speaker Newt Gingrich.
“Hard disagree and deeply disappointing,” said Sen. John Fetterman (D-PA), one of the most vocal supporters of Israel in the Democratic Party.
Former Vice President Mike Pence dangled the idea impeachment if Biden doesn’t honor the foreign aid commitments approved by Congress. Biden signed into law last month a $95 billion foreign aid package that included $26 billion for support to Israel and humanitarian relief for Gaza.
“I’m old enough to remember when Democrats impeached another President for supposedly withholding foreign aid that had been approved by Congress,” Pence said of former President Donald Trump’s first impeachment involving aid to Ukraine. “Stop the threats Joe. America Stands with Israel!”
It’s unclear if Biden’s shift would have much of an impact on Israel’s immediate plans, with one U.S. official telling the Washington Post that the Israeli military already has enough weapons supplied by the U.S. and its allies to conduct the Rafah operation.
In the CNN interview, Biden also remained adamant the economy is strong six months before November’s general election as voters repeatedly tell pollsters the economy is their No. 1 concern.
“We’ve already turned it around,” Biden said when asked whether six months was too short of a time period to change perceptions about the economy.
Regardless, Biden’s average economic approval is net negative 18.5 percentage points, 39.6% to 58.1%, according to RealClearPolitics, though consumer confidence has improved during his administration.
“The polling data has been wrong all along,” Biden said of the data contradiction.
Biden underscored his record of job creation, helped by the end of the pandemic. The economy only added 175,000 jobs in April, compared to 315,000 during the month before. The unemployment rate additionally rose a tenth of a percentage point to 3.9%.
But Biden did concede that people are under economic pressure because of consumer prices, apportioning blame to “corporate greed” and not his policies. Inflation ticked up in April by 3.5% in contrast to a year ago and 0.4% for the month.
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“It was 9% when I came to office — 9%. But look, people have a right to be concerned, ordinary people,” he said.
Biden was in Racine, Wisconsin, on Wednesday to promote Microsoft’s $3.3 billion data center project and his economic accomplishments.
