Biden: It would be a ‘big mistake’ for Israel to re-occupy the Gaza Strip
Israel’s drive to eliminate Hamas must not include the re-occupation of Gaza, US President Joe Biden told 60 Minutes in an interview published late Sunday night in the United States.
“Going in and the taking out the extremists – the Hezbollah is up north but Hamas down south – is a necessary requirement,” Biden said as he threw his support behind Israel’s military campaign in Gaza.
Gaza has been controlled by the Islamic terrorist group Hamas since it took over the small enclave wedged between Israel and Egypt during a bloody coup in 2007.
Biden spoke as the IDF prepared to launch a ground campaign into Gaza and exchanged fire on the Lebanese border.
Israel is in the midst of a war it has dubbed “Swords of Iron,” which began on October 7th when Hamas, an Iranian proxy, stormed the country’s southern border, murdering 1,300 civilians and soldiers and taking some 200 people hostage.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Defense Minister Yoav Gallant have been clear that their intention is to destroy Hamas’s military and governmental power in the Strip.
Israel withdrew from Gaza in 2005, handing the enclave over to the Fatah-run Palestinian Authority.
Biden clarified in the interview that the US would not support an Israeli return to Gaza. “It would be a mistake for Israel to occupy Gaza again,” Biden clarified.
He was confident, he said, that in attacking Hamas, Israel would act according to the rules of war.
“There are standards that democratic institutions and countries go by. And so I’m confident that there’s gonna be an ability for the innocents in Gaza to be able to have access to medicine and food and water,” Biden said.
The president and top Biden administration officials have gone out of their way to clarify that the US supports Israel, including sending it military assistance and warning other enemies, particularly Iran, not to regionalize the war by attacking the Jewish state.
He dismissed reports claiming that Iran masterminded the October 7th attack.
”Iran constantly supports Hamas and Hezbollah. But in terms of did they have foreknowledge; did they help plan the attack, there’s no evidence of that at this point,” Biden said.
He pledged that the US would do everything possible to secure the release of the hostages, among them American citizens and other foreign nationals.
“We’re going to do everything in our power to get them home, if we can find them,” Biden affirmed. “We’re workin’ like hell on it.”
He has stood strong with
Israel from the start of the war, both for personal reasons as a Christian Zionist and as President of the United States.
“The Jews have been subject to abuse, prejudice, and attempts to wipe them out for, oh, God, over a thousand years,” he said.
Standing with them after the October 7th attack, he said that “for me,” it’s “about decency, respect, honor.” As for the atrocities that Hamas committed, “it’s just simply wrong. Wrong, wrong, wrong. It violates every religious principle I have and every single principle my father taught me.”
Israelis “have to know that the President of the United States of America cares deeply about what has happened,” Biden said as he referred to the Hamas torture of its victims, including torching, dismemberment, and rape.
“We have to communicate to the world that this is critical, it’s not even human behavior, it’s pure barbarism,” Biden stated.
“The most important thing is ending this brutality and to hold those who committed it accountable,” he added.
“Israel is going after a group of people who have engaged in barbarism that is as consequential as the Holocaust. And so, I think Israel has to respond.
“They have to go after Hamas. Hamas is a bunch of cowards. They’re hiding behind the civilians. They put their headquarters where civilians are and buildings and the like,” the president stressed.
Biden said he did not believe that US boots on the ground would be needed. “Israel has one of the finest fighting forces in the country. I guarantee we’re gonna provide them everything they need,” regarding military assistance, he said.
The US has enough resources to support both Israel and Ukraine, Biden told 60 Minutes.
“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. The history of the world. We can take care of both of these and still maintain our overall international defense.”
Biden explained that he still supports a two-state resolution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and the Palestinian Authority.
“There needs to be a Palestinian Authority. There needs to be a path to a Palestinian state,” Biden said, while cautioning that it cannot happen right away.
“Not now, but I think Israel understands that a significant portion of Palestinian people do not share the views of Hamas and Hezbollah,” Biden said.