Senior official: ‘It was a bizarre and confusing moment.’
By Vered Weiss, World Israel News
US Secretary of State Antony Blinken announced an adjustment in humanitarian aid to Gaza that wasn’t approved by Israel’s war cabinet as reported by Channel 12 news.
The confusion over Wednesday’s announcement of sending more aid to Gaza arose over the fact that the entire war cabinet wasn’t consulted on the matter.
Presumably, a decision was made unilaterally or was discussed with just a few parties that might have included Blinken, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, or US President Joe Biden.
However, the involvement of any of those people is mere speculation, since the proposal wasn’t discussed when Blinken met with the war cabinet during his visit to Israel this week.
A senior official said, “It was a bizarre and confusing moment.”
He added, “The decision was made in a way that circumvented the Cabinet, either by Netanyahu to Biden or by Minister Dermer at Netanyahu’s request, without consulting the Cabinet.”
On Wednesday, Blinken announced that the number of trucks delivering flour and other goods into Gaza would be doubled, a decision which is controversial given evidence that Hamas has been smuggling aid intended for civilians for use by its leaders and terrorist troops.
One vocal critic of the policy is Yosef Hadad, an Arab-Israeli journalist who advocates on behalf of Israel.
“Allowing 150 trucks full of flour to Gaza, knowing that Hamas will take control of all supplies coming in and while the hostages are still receiving perhaps half a pita per day in the best case, is a shame and disgrace, it is weakness, it is an outrage,” said Hadad.
He added, “We will not defeat Hamas like this. Wake up and understand that we live in the Middle East, and change the mindset that brought us to this situation.”
The US Secretary of State’s most recent visit included meetings with several leaders in the Middle East, including Palestinian Authority Mahmoud Abbas.
Blinken also met in Tel Aviv with President Isaac Herzog, Foreign Minister Israel Katz, and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and told the ministers that the only way they could regain cooperation with other countries in the region was by putting Palestinians in charge of Gaza after the war as a pathway to the Palestinian State.
Nevertheless, Blinken’s support of Palestinian statehood didn’t prevent hundreds of Palestinians from protesting against his visit to Ramallah.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has repeatedly insisted that Israel will retain security control of Gaza after the war and that the Palestinian Authority is not an appropriate choice to rule Gaza, given its hostility to Israel and refusal to condemn Hamas.