SHOSHANA BRYEN: Biden Said Israel Couldn’t Do It

“There are thousands to tell you it cannot be done,

      “There are thousands to prophesy failure,

“There are thousands to point out to you one by one,

      “The dangers that wait to assail you…”

                                  Edward Albert Guest

The United States was certain Israel could not evacuate Palestinian civilians from Rafah in a timely way and capture the Philadelphi Corridor, where Egypt had closed the gate on civilian aid. They told Israel in no uncertain terms they would fail, and Palestinians would be slaughtered.

The IDF has evacuated nearly 900,000 Palestinians since May 6. And Rafah reopened this week under Israeli supervision.

The Jerusalem Post reported, “30-40% of Rafah is now under IDF control, not merely a small portion of the eastern sector, and about 60-70% of Rafah has been completely evacuated. The remaining Rafah civilians, estimated at around 300,000-400,000, are almost all near the Gaza coast Tel al-Sultan area.”

The IDF is very, very good–so is the United States military–so why did the Biden administration think Israel couldn’t do it?

The U.S. position is likely the result of an evolution in attitude that arose during the Obama administration. There was a point at which the US was unconcerned about civilian casualties–collateral damage–from U.S. drone strikes. The Bureau of Investigative Journalism reported that between 2010 and 2020, drone strikes in Yemen, Afghanistan, Sudan, and Pakistan likely caused 11,000-21,000 killed and wounded. In addition to drone strikes, the U.S. was bombing cities in Iraq and Syria in pursuit of ISIS.