Go to Source: ABC News: Politics
Reports: Hamas Kills Palestinian Civilians Trying to Flee; Won’t Let Americans Leave
Go to Source: Breitbart News
Biden is ‘weighing’ a visit to Israel for show of solidarity
The Biden administration is considering a presidential visit to Israel as a sign of support for the country following the brutal attack by Hamas.
Two U.S. officials, granted anonymity to detail sensitive internal discussions, said President Joe Biden could land in Israel as early as this week. But they stress a trip might not happen any time soon, or at all, depending on the security situation in Israel and the state of a war that is quickly spiraling out of control. Israel is on the verge of ordering a ground invasion of Gaza.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu invited Biden to visit when the two men spoke on Saturday, the officials said, with one of them saying the administration was “weighing” the offer.
Biden has told aides he’s interested in going, as his presence would demonstrate strong U.S. support after Hamas killed more than 1,300 Israelis and took around 150 hostages, including Americans. But the likelihood of escalating hostilities could mean that any future trip occurs during a particularly precarious point in the developing war.
Adrienne Watson, spokesperson for the National Security Council, said “we have no new travel to announce,” but never denied that a trip was in the works.
White House aides note Biden has made daring trips before, namely his visit to Kyiv in February, as the war with Russia raged. That visit was considered by many aides to be one of the highlights of his presidency. The 80-year-old Biden has also traveled elsewhere to the region — visiting both Poland and Lithuania — as demonstrations of the United States’ commitment to defending democracies worldwide.
But while the trip to Ukraine’s capital involved a secret 10-hour train ride, one to Israel would, in some ways, be even more complicated.
Back in February, the U.S. communicated to Russia to not interfere with the trip and Moscow, perhaps mindful of an American reprisal, did not try to stop the president, though air raid sirens did go off as Biden and Volodymyr Zelenskyy walked the streets of Kyiv. Hamas, a group the United States has designated a terrorist organization, would be more likely to take a provocative strike at a traveling president, according to one of the officials.
And a visit of U.S. senators to Tel Aviv this week underscored the danger. The group of lawmakers, which included Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, had to seek refuge in a bomb shelter when warning sirens blared. Secretary of State Antony Blinken and Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin, however, did visit Israel in the last week without significant complications.
The debate about the trip would also come against the backdrop of the Biden administration’s growing worry over the worsening humanitarian crisis in Gaza amid Israel’s heavy bombardment and siege of the enclave.
There is an expectation that Israel will mount a ground offensive in the coming days, with experts predicting that weeks of urban warfare would inevitably lead to the deaths of thousands of innocent civilians. Officials in Gaza say that more than 2,600 Palestinians have already been killed in Israel’s retribution strikes over the past week.
Go to Source: Politico
Biden to visit Boebert’s district in Colorado to tout economic agenda
President Biden is expected to travel Monday to GOP Rep. Lauren Boebert’s district in Colorado to tout his economic agenda.
The president heads to Pueblo in Colorado’s 3rd District to visit CS Wind, the largest wind tower manufacturer in the world, according to the White House.
Biden will deliver remarks on what the administration touts as “Bidenomics,” which is his plan to build the economy with a focus on the middle class, and the Inflation Reduction Act, which he signed into law last year.
The president will argue that both of his top agenda items are “mobilizing companies to invest in clean energy industries and create good-paying jobs in communities across the country, including Colorado’s third congressional district,” according to the White House.
The visit comes on the heels of Biden mocking Boebert in August when highlighting that CS Wind was constructing a plant in her district in Pueblo.
The investment in the plant came in part through funding from the Inflation Reduction Act, which is the Democrats’ massive climate and tax bill that every Republican in Congress voted against.
“Like in Colorado, where CS Wind broke ground on what will be the world’s largest wind tower manufacturing plant. And coincidentally, CS Wind is Congresswoman Lauren Boebert — you know, the very quiet Republican lady — it’s in her district,” Biden said.
Biden added that Boebert, “along with every other Republican, voted against this bill — and it’s making all this possible. And she railed against its passage. But, that’s OK, she’s welcoming it now.”
She is one of several GOP members who Biden has mocked for touting new projects in their districts after they voted against the legislation that provided federal funding for them.
Go to Source: Administration News | The Hill
‘Sinister’: IDF Blasts Hamas for Stopping Gazan Civilians from Evacuating
Go to Source: Breitbart News
Biden says occupation of Gaza by Israel is ‘big mistake’
President Biden said in a new interview that it would be a “big mistake” if Israel once again occupied Gaza as it fights militant group Hamas following an attack and subsequent war that has left thousands dead.
“I think it’d be a big mistake,” Biden said when asked by CBS’ Scott Pelley on “60 Minutes” if he would support Israeli occupation of Gaza at this point of the war. Gaza has been under heavy bombardment by Israel and is expected to launch a ground offensive soon.
“Look, what happened in Gaza, in my view, is Hamas and the extreme elements of Hamas don’t represent all the Palestinian people. And I think that…it would be a mistake…for Israel to occupy…Gaza again,” Biden added. “But going in but taking out the extremists—the Hezbollah is up north but Hamas down south—is a necessary requirement.”
Israel formally withdrew its military presence as well as its settlements from inside Gaza in 2005. The enclave had been ruled by the Palestinian Authority before that following the 1995 Oslo accords.
The year after Israel withdrew from the territory, Hamas was elected to govern the area. No elections have been held there since.
Israeli armed forces have launched a counteroffensive against Hamas, which currently governs Gaza, after Hamas launches a deadly and brutal attack against Israel last weekend. Since then, the war has claimed more than 3,600 lives across Israel and Gaza.
Israel has called for 1 million people in Gaza to evacuate to its southern end. U.S. officials said on Sunday they have been working to assist Americans looking to leave the Gaza Strip and the West Bank but that no Americans have been able get out that they know of.
Biden filmed the interview with CBS on Friday and it aired on Sunday. Pelley, in seeking answers about any potential political future for Gaza, asked the president if he believes Hamas must be eliminated entirely.
“Yes, I do. But there needs to be a Palestinian Authority. There needs to be a path to a Palestinian state,” Biden said.
Biden has long supported a two-state solution in the Middle East. He said though this week that he doesn’t believe Israel would pursue that option after what’s occurred over the last week.
“Not now. Not now. Not now,” Biden said. “But I think Israel understands that a significant portion of Palestinian people do not share the views of Hamas and Hezbollah.”
Go to Source: Administration News | The Hill
Biden says simultaneous wars in Ukraine, Israel won’t overwhelm US
President Biden in a new interview dismissed the idea that the United States could not simultaneously support Israel in its war against Hamas and Ukraine in its war against Russia.
“We’re the United States of America for God’s sake, the most powerful nation in the history — not in the world, in the history of the world,” Biden said in a “60 Minutes” interview that aired Sunday. “We can take care of both of these and still maintain our overall international defense.”
Biden argued that the two conflicts “overwhelmingly” relate to the safety of the American people.
“In Ukraine one of my objectives was to prevent [Russian President Vladimir Putin], who has committed war crimes himself, who — from being able to occupy an independent country that borders NATO allies and is on the Russian border,” Biden said. “Imagine what happens now if he were able to succeed. Have you ever known a major war in Europe we didn’t get sucked into? We don’t want that to happen.”
“We want to make sure those democracies are sustained. And Ukraine is critical in making sure that happens,” Biden added.
Biden sat down with “60 Minutes” at the White House days after Hamas, the militant group that controls the Gaza Strip, launched terrorist attacks against Israel that left 1,000 Israelis dead. Thousands more Palestinians have been killed in ensuing fighting in Gaza.
More than two dozen Americans were killed in the attacks, and more than a dozen remain unaccounted for.
The Biden administration has moved military assets closer to Israel in support of the Jewish state and has sent munitions and interceptors for Israel’s Iron Dome defense system.
At the same time, Congress has provided billions of dollars in military and financial assistance to Ukraine in the roughly 20 months since Russia launched an unprovoked invasion in February 2022.
The White House is expected to ask Congress to provide additional aid to Israel in the coming days, and officials are likely to try and package that request with an ask for more assistance for Ukraine. The House, however, which currently sits without a Speaker, is unable to pass any legislation before someone is officially elected to the post.
While there is bipartisan support for both Israel and Ukraine in Congress, some House Republicans have voiced opposition to continued aid for Ukraine, questioning how it benefits the U.S.
Go to Source: Administration News | The Hill