On Wednesday’s broadcast of NewsNation’s “Morning in America,” Biden Campaign Co-Chair Sen. Chris Coons (D-DE) said that other nations won’t take Palestinian refugees and “I understand the concerns of others in the region” and so Israel has to help Palestinians in Rafah relocate. He also stated that “Hamas has almost no way to get in or get out, to get re-supplied.”
Coons said Israel’s “choice here is to do what they are obligated to do, which is to continue to go after Hamas, to make sure that Hamas is not capable of re-taking control of Gaza, but to do it in a way that doesn’t cause tens of thousands more civilian deaths and hundreds of thousands to tip over into famine. Let’s just remember, the IDF, the Israeli armed forces, control the entire perimeter of Gaza. Hamas has almost no way to get in or get out, to get re-supplied. So, as the United States is their closest ally and their largest supporter, their largest provider of military aid and financial aid, I think we have an obligation to ask that Israel do both, provide for humanitarian relief by allowing a million innocent civilians to move out of Rafah before they take up a large-scale ground assault. They can also carry out small, surgical special forces teams incursions into Rafah that wouldn’t risk killing tens of thousands. So, I hope my message is clear, Israel does have a right to continue the fight against Hamas, but not at the cost of blocking a million people from getting humanitarian relief.”
Host Markie Martin then asked, “And when we talk about these asks from the White House, I’m just curious, myself, why is there not a greater plea from the United States, from President Biden, asking border countries like Egypt to take these people in, like we’ve taken in so many migrants from other countries right here in the United States fleeing desperate situations themselves. Why are we not hearing more of that?”
Coons answered, “I went to Egypt on a bipartisan delegation, ten senators, Republicans and Democrats. We went to Saudi Arabia, to Israel, and to Egypt just two weeks after the October 7 attack. And President Sisi of Egypt was clear and firm, he refuses to accept any Palestinians from Gaza. He does not want, as he put it, the Hamas ideology of Gazans to come into the Sinai. There is also regional concern, because of the far-right members of Netanyahu’s government who have publicly said they want to remove Palestinians from Gaza and the West Bank, that, if they are removed from Gaza into the Sinai, now controlled by Egypt, that they would never return to Gaza. So, I understand the concerns of others in the region. But frankly, that’s what puts the Palestinians in Rafah between a rock and a hard place. They have already, most of them, fled from the north of Gaza, because the IDF told them Rafah would be a safe place. … There is nowhere else for them to go, unless Israel helps them relocate back to the north and provides tents and shelter and food for them in partner with international organizations that the U.S. and many others support.”
Follow Ian Hanchett on Twitter @IanHanchett
