Biden announces plan for US military to establish temporary Gaza port at State of the Union, says Israel ‘must allow more aid’
WASHINGTON — President Biden announced in his State of the Union address Thursday that the US military will build a temporary port for the distribution of aid on the Gaza Strip’s coast — before demanding Israel allow more aid into the besieged Hamas-run enclave.
“Tonight, I’m directing the US military to lead an emergency mission to establish a temporary pier in the Mediterranean on the coast of Gaza that can receive large shipments carrying food, water, medicine and temporary shelter,” said Biden in ordering American troops closer to the conflict between the Jewish state and Islamic jihadists.
“No US boots will be on the ground. The temporary pier will enable a massive increase in the amount of humanitarian assistance getting into Gaza every day.”
The president then rounded on America’s longest-standing Middle Eastern ally, saying that “Israel must do its part.”
“Israel must allow more humanitarian aid into Gaza and ensure humanitarian workers aren’t caught in the cross-fire,” Biden said, to applause from lawmakers.
Earlier Thursday, a White House official told reporters on a press call that “unique capabilities” would allow troops to remain “just offshore” rather than be placed in the middle of a war zone.
American officials neither disclosed where exactly the port would be located nor laid out precise plans to distribute the aid, which they said would arrive from nearby Cyprus.
“We worked very closely with the Israelis in developing this initiative,” one official said, signaling that the port likely would be set up in an area controlled by the Jewish state rather than in besieged areas still held by Hamas.
“This port, the main feature of which is a temporary pier, will provide the capacity for hundreds of additional truckloads of assistance each day,” the official said.
“We will coordinate with the Israelis on the security requirements on land, and work with the UN and humanitarian NGOs on the distribution of assistance within Gaza.”
Biden’s move seemed meant to placate fiery anti-Israel protesters who have nicknamed him “Genocide Joe” and persistently heckled his public remarks. A group of demonstrators blocked Pennsylvania Avenue between the White House and the Capitol Thursday night, apparently forcing Biden’s motorcade to take an alternate route to deliver his speech.
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Supporters of Israel say the Jewish state’s military has allowed ample amounts of aid into the Gaza Strip, only for most of it to be stolen by Hamas fighters who have left Palestinian civilians to face the wrath of the Israel Defense Forces.
“President Biden’s plan to use Americans’ hard-earned money to build a port in Gaza will only fast-track US taxpayer-funded aid into the hands of terrorists such as Hamas and put US servicemembers’ lives at risk,” House Oversight Committee Chairman James Comer (R-Ky.) said in a statement.
“Just this morning, I met with the USAID Inspector General who cautioned any aid going to Gaza or the West Bank has a high-risk for potential diversion and misuse of U.S. funded assistance,” Comer said.
“The fact that this announcement will come during tonight’s State of the Union address says it all: President Biden cares more about appeasing the radical left than helping our ally Israel and protecting US taxpayer dollars.”
In a prior announcement, Biden on Friday announced airdrops of aid as part of a joint operation with Jordan’s air force — saying that Israel wasn’t allowing enough trucks into the warzone — and floated a “marine corridor.”
Six American citizens are believed to remain captive in Gaza.
Although Biden’s latest aid plan does not call for the use of US troops for fighting Hamas, Americans have been attacked and killed across the Middle East even when not directly engaged in conflicts.
Three US troops were killed Jan. 28 at a remote American outpost in Jordan near that country’s borders with Iraq and Syria — by a drone dispatched by a group supported by Iran, which also backs Hamas.
Commercial ships traversing the Red Sea have been attacked repeatedly by the country’s Iran-backed Houthi government since the Hamas-Israel war began.
US military ships stationed in the region have also been attacked in the past — most notably in October 2000, when 17 sailors were killed when a boat carrying an Al Qaeda suicide bomber detonated alongside the destroyer USS Cole off the southern coast of Yemen.
Humanitarian missions also are no guarantee of safety. On Oct. 23, 1983, terrorists suspected of being supported by Iran detonated truck bombs that killed 241 American soldiers in their barracks in Beirut, where they were serving as part of an international peacekeeping mission during Lebanon’s civil war.
