The White House was aware, since the end of October, that Israel was regularly bombing civilian targets in Gaza, but President Joe Biden continued to publicly defend the conduct of the Israeli military, reports The Washington Post.
On October 27, three weeks after hostilities began between Israel and the Hamas movement, senior Biden foreign policy officials told a select group at the White House that “Israel was regularly bombing buildings without [dados de] solid intelligence that they were legitimate military targets,” the newspaper wrote, citing three sources familiar with the meeting.
Officials also expressed concern that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu did not have a clear plan to defeat the Palestinian militant group, with one source telling the newspaper that “from the beginning, there was a sense of not knowing how the Israelis were going to do the job.” they said they would do.”
It is noteworthy that, at that time, the US was rushing to deliver military aid to Israel. Two weeks before that meeting, White House leader Joe Biden visited Israel and publicly declared that “while the United States supports [Israel]you will not be alone.”
On the same day as the meeting, White House National Security Council spokesman John Kirby told reporters that the US would not impose any “red lines” on how Israel conducts its military campaign.
The meeting did little to change rhetoric from Biden or his officials. The president did not criticize Israel for the repeated bombing of a refugee camp in early November.