White House Walks Back Biden’s ‘Red Line’ for Israel Statement

National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan on Tuesday refuted a report from POLITICO that said President Biden was considering conditioning military aid to Israel if it invades Rafah, the southern Gaza Strip city that’s packed with 1.5 million Palestinians.

“We’re not going to engage in hypotheticals about what comes down the line and the reports that purport to describe the president’s thinking are uninformed speculation,” Sullivan said.

A full-scale attack on Rafah would incur a huge number of civilian casualties as most Palestinians in the city, which has a pre-war population of 275,000, are sheltering in tents on the streets.

The assault would also disrupt the small flow of aid going into Gaza, as the only border crossing into Egypt is located in the city, and Palestinians are already starving to death in Gaza due to the Israeli siege.

Sullivan also denied the idea that President Biden set a red line for Israel. In an interview over the weekend, Biden suggested an assault on Rafah was a red line but quickly walked back the comment.

“The president didn’t make any declarations or pronouncements or announcements,” Sullivan said. However, Biden days ago said when asked about Israel’s impending ground operation against Rafah…

Also on Tuesday, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu again vowed to invade Rafah. “We will finish the job in Rafah while enabling the civilian population to get out of harm’s way,” he said in comments to AIPAC, the pro-Israel lobbying group in the US.

The State Department said on Monday that Israel hasn’t presented a plan to protect civilians if it invades Rafah. “The Government of Israel has said that they will implement a humanitarian assistance plan,” said State Department spokesman Matt Miller. “We haven’t seen such a plan yet.”

In the below exchange yesterday, press pool journalists called out Sullivan over what were clearly Biden’s own words:

The White House spokesperson backtracks on President Biden's statement regarding the suggestion that Israel would cross a red line if it entered Rafah. pic.twitter.com/JOsjSZ4sK7

— Suppressed Voice. (@SuppressedNws) March 12, 2024

So far, the Israeli slaughter of Palestinians in Gaza has killed over 31,000 people, mostly women and children. The US has supported the massacre by approving over 100 arms deals for Israel since October 7.

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