President George W. Bush‘s former White House Press Secretary Ari Fleischer is criticizing President Joe Biden for announcing that if Israel invades the Gaza city of Rafah, the United States will stop supplying it with offensive weapons including artillery shells and bombs for fighter jets.
[The Biden administration has been pressuring Israel “to do more to protect civilians in Gaza and to ensure more humanitarian aid can be delivered there.”]
Fleischer, a board member of the Republican Jewish Coalition, today wrote about Biden’s decision: “Biden has lost his mind. If he does this, he is helping Hamas to survive – and win. I’ll take Donald Trump’s mean tweets any day. None of them is as bad as Biden.”
Biden has not “lost his mind.” He is upholding the word of the US.
There are 1.3 million people in Rafah. You do not need to slaughter them to go after Hamas.
Biden stated the US red line was Rafah. It would make us weaker & the world less safe to let Bibi, or anyone, cross it. https://t.co/EKaGyYnyDH
— Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (@AOC) May 9, 2024
U.S. Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY) responded to Fleischer: “Biden has not ‘lost his mind.’ He is upholding the word of the US. There are 1.3 million people in Rafah. You do not need to slaughter them to go after Hamas. Biden stated the US red line was Rafah. It would make us weaker & the world less safe to let Bibi, or anyone, cross it.”
Note: During a White House briefing in April 2002 (below), Fleischer was asked to comment on a recent suicide bombing in Jerusalem and criticism of Bush losing his credibility as a peace negotiator.
Fleischer said: “The president is focusing on helping the parties help themselves. The president doesn’t look over his shoulder, he doesn’t look left, he doesn’t look right, he doesn’t worry on a day-to-day basis about what people are saying. His focus is on how to bring the parties together to achieve peace.”