OK, hold up. Is President Joe Biden putting boots on the ground in Gaza? Technically, no. Biden will announce during the State of the Union address that he's going to order the military to build a pier so that large ships can deliver aid to the Palestinian people. It's complicated.
The Hill reports:
President Biden will announce during his State of the Union address Thursday that he’s directing the U.S. military to lead the construction of a port along the coast of Gaza on the Mediterranean Sea to boost the amount of aid getting to Palestinian civilians.
“We know the aid flowing into Gaza is nowhere near enough and nowhere near fast enough. The president will make clear again this evening that we all need to do more, and the United States is doing more,” a senior administration official said on a call with reporters.
…
Senior administration officials said the project will not require any U.S. boots on the ground in Gaza. Instead, the plan involves U.S. personnel on military vessels offshore who will not be required to go ashore to install the port.
So, no boots on the ground in Gaza. The U.S. military is going to construct this port from offshore. We're not sure how that works, but certainly Biden has thought it through. This comes just a week after the United States began air drops of aid into Gaza.
What's going to stop Hamas from stealing all the aid the moment it reaches the shore?
The White House is truly flailing. We can't secure our own border, but we can build a port in Gaza. Our military can't be used to actually defend the United States, restore deterrence against our enemies, enforce sanctions, or rescue American hostages -- but it can be put to work building a port in Gaza.
Congress needs to see a detailed plan of how this is going to work, how much it will cost, how force protection will be assured, who will be operating the port, how deliveries will work, how aid diversion will be prevented, etc. It all sounds rather half-baked and unnecessary -- more virtue signaling instead of governing -- but let's demand the details from the White House and DOD.
Israel has made it clear it has zero limits on aid coming into Gaza. Very sad the White House resorts to this for its base politics.
What I believe we are actually seeing is a massive ramp up in Hamas disinformation in its 11th hour directly wired into its supporters in the United States who then exert political pressure on the White House, which gives into that pressure.
The Hamas-UN machine is churning out claims, and media reports them as fact. The conversation they want is about an "aid crisis," "starvation," "ceasefire," and more. Senior officials like Samantha Powers who have a history of Israel-bashing are more than happy to put USAID's name on those claims. There's no verification of sources going on anymore.
Why does Hamas want this conversation? Because it changes the conversation from truth and fact: That Hamas is an Iranian-backed terrorist organization that perpetrated the worst massacre of Jews since the Holocaust; that Hamas committed heinous crimes against humanity, including horrific sex crimes; that Hamas is holding hostages, including American citizens, right now; and that if Israel moves forward with its military campaign, Hamas may finally be destroyed in Gaza.
Yeah, this sounds like a bad idea. But "Genocide Joe" needs those votes in Dearborn.
This is quite the tightrope. Biden is waiting to send billions in aid to Israel while at the same time sending the military to build a pier so that ships carrying aid can get to the Palestinians. And there won't be any boots on the ground, just offshore.
Biden is so desperate to play both sides of this war. To appease his Hamas-sympathizer base, he needs to be seen doing something to get aid to the Palestinians. He's really desperate for those votes.