“After 9/11, we were enraged in the United States. While we sought justice and got justice, we also made mistakes.”
Firmly backing Israel’s right to go to war against Hamas, President Joe Biden on Wednesday urged Israelis to learn the lessons from US campaigns after the September 11 terrorist attacks.
“Justice must be done,” said Biden, speaking in Tel Aviv after a six-hour visit to Israel, the first by a US president during a war.
“But I caution this: While you feel that rage, don’t be consumed by it,” he continued. “After 9/11, we were enraged in the United States. While we sought justice and got justice, we also made mistakes.”
Betraying an unease with the possibility that Israel’s campaign against Hamas could get derailed by civilian losses, Biden warned that wartime leadership “requires clarity about the objectives and an honest assessment about whether the path you’re on will achieve those objectives.”
Earlier in the day, Biden on Wednesday backed Israel’s assertion that a deadly blast at a Gaza hospital the night before was the result of a misfired rocket by Palestinian terrorists.
He repeated that conclusion in his parting speech: “Based on the information we’ve seen to date, it appears the result of an errant rocket fired by a terrorist group in Gaza.”
At the same time, Biden announced measures to ensure the delivery of humanitarian aid to Gazan civilians.
“The people of Gaza need food, water, medicine, shelter,” he said. “Today, I asked the Israeli cabinet, who I met with for some time this morning, to agree to the delivery of lifesaving humanitarian assistance to civilians in Gaza, based on the understanding that there will be inspections, and that the aid should go to civilians, not to Hamas.” - 'Times of Israel'
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