From the outset of the Israeli response to the October 7 attack by Hamas, concerns have grown globally that civilians in Gaza would be innocent victims in Israel’s effort to dismantle Hamas. History has shown repeatedly that it is extremely difficult to conduct humanitarian aid operations in war zones — and this is especially true if terrorists groups employ civilians as “human shields,” as Israel accuses Hamas of doing.
[NOTE: An alternative approach to combating human shield defenses, using directed energy attacks, is suggested here.]
But even those who unequivocally support Israel’s right to self-defense and the severity of its counterattack, including President Joe Biden, have cautioned against the slaughter of innocents. This is not just counsel based on humanitarian concerns, either, but advice with deep roots in pragmatic defense conduct — there is no more effective terrorist recruiting tool than innocent civilians killed by the “enemy.”
Among American lawmakers calling for a measured Israeli response — and “conditions” on U.S. support for the war going forward — is Sen. Bernie Sanders, the Vermont Independent who supports Israel’s right to defend itself but warns that a “horrific humanitarian disaster in Gaza” serves no one’s aims.
There is a horrific humanitarian disaster in Gaza. Israel must stop the bombing now and allow for massive amounts of humanitarian aid, including fuel, to reach those who need it. Congress cannot pass a supplemental spending bill that allows these actions to continue.
— Bernie Sanders (@SenSanders) November 17, 2023
Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC) took issue with Sanders’s recent assertion that additional U.S. aid be conditioned on changes in Israel’s consideration of non-combatant Gaza residents, saying Sanders “is way off base.”
Graham counters Sanders with a vision of unwavering support for Israel that echoes Biden’s pledge of support for Ukraine: “All they need, as long as they need it.”
Senator Sanders is way off base when it comes to military assistance to Israel.
— Lindsey Graham (@LindseyGrahamSC) November 20, 2023
My belief is: All they need, as long as they need it.https://t.co/VL8wkUBmEb
Graham believes any “conditions” on the Israeli response are inappropriate given the gravity and barbarism of the October 7 attack. Without naming Sanders specifically, Graham asserts in another tweet that the “Left’s insistence that Israel should restrict military tactics to destroy Hamas” is “morally repugnant.”
The Left’s insistence that Israel should restrict military tactics to destroy Hamas after the most barbaric attack on the Jewish people since the Holocaust is morally repugnant.
— Lindsey Graham (@LindseyGrahamSC) November 20, 2023