'EMPTY WORDS': Biden's Response to Israel's Attack on Aid Workers Means Nothing: Former HRW Director
An Al Jazeera investigation said it appears Israel targeted the convoy.
Keneth Roth, the former head of Human Rights Watch, called out President Joe Biden on X after the president slammed Israel for not doing enough to avoid blowing up humanitarian aid workers.
Roth quoted Biden from an AP article: “Biden: ‘Israel has not done enough to protect aid workers trying to deliver desperately needed help to civilians.’”
Roth wrote: “Nor has Israel done enough to avoid killing and starving Palestinian civilians. But Biden keeps arming and funding Israel anyway. #EmptyWords”
The AP report said Biden “issued an unusually blunt criticism of Israel” and suggested that “the incident demonstrated that Israel was not doing enough to protect civilians.”
“The United States has repeatedly urged Israel to deconflict their military operations against Hamas with humanitarian operations, in order to avoid civilian casualties,” Biden said.
Francesca Albanese, the UN special rapporteur, posted on X Tuesday that Israel likely intentionally targeted the World Central Kitchen convoy so it can continue to starve Palestinians “quietly.”
“Knowing how Israel operates, my assessment is that Israeli forces intentionally killed WCK workers so that donors would pull out & civilians in Gaza could continue to be starved quietly. Israel knows Western countries & most Arab countries won't move a finger for the Palestinians,” she posted.
Biden has tried to balance providing Israel with unlimited weapons — while calling on the country to try and limit civilian casualties. The White House is planning on providing Israel with another $18 billion in F-15 fighter jets and other weapons in the upcoming war with Iran.
An Al Jazeera investigation supported Albanese’s claim and said it appears Israel targeted the convoy.
The report noted that the NGO said its workers “had been leaving the Deir el-Balah warehouse after delivering 100 tonnes of food aid and that ‘despite coordinating movements with the [Israeli army], the convoy was hit.’”
Al Jazeera’s Sanad verification agency said three vehicles were targeted after leaving the warehouse, including a second vehicle about 2,525 feet from where the first one was hit.
Israel said it would investigate and expressed condolences.