Fox News correspondent Peter Doocy confronted the Biden administration on Thursday about how a humanitarian pause would help the Israelis in their fight against Hamas.
As Israel Defense Forces successfully fight back against Hamas, President Joe Biden on Wednesday endorsed a humanitarian “pause” in Gaza.
“I think we need a pause,” Biden said at a campaign event when asked if he supports a ceasefire.
It was not an outright endorsement of a ceasefire — something the White House has refused to support, knowing that a ceasefire would reward Hamas — but it was a nod to progressive Democrats, who are upset that Israel is responding to Hamas’ barbaric attack with the full power of the Middle East’s most powerful military force.
On Thursday, Doocy asked John Kirby, coordinator for strategic communications at the National Security Council, the pressing question about what a “pause” would mean for Israel.
“As you push the Israelis for humanitarian pauses, are they just supposed to sit back and let Hamas attack them and attack them and attack them and not fight back?” Doocy pressed.
Kirby, however, dodged providing a direct answer. He said the Biden administration has been “crystal clear that Israel has the right to defend themselves,” which begged a second question that Doocy was not afraid to ask.
“So a pause means they can still shoot back?” Doocy followed up.
“My goodness, Peter,” an exasperated Kirby responded. “We’e giving them security assistance almost every day. But do we advocate pauses by both sides here — temporary, localized — to be able to get Americans out, to be able to get aid in? You betcha we do.”
Kirby clarified that Biden, while calling for a “pause,” does not want a “general ceasefire.” The “temporary, localized” pauses, Kirby explained, would allow the U.S. “to get aid in and to get our people out.”
“A temporary pause doesn’t mean a general ceasefire or the war is over,” Kirby said. “It means pause, only temporary, for a specific purpose.”
In the coming days, Secretary of State Antony Blinken will lobby the Israeli government to agree to a series “pauses” in fighting, according to the New York Times, to give civilians some level of protection to reach safety. The problem, of course, is that Hamas is blocking civilians from fleeing Gaza because the terrorist group likes to use them as human shields.
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