Moment of truth for Israel as Joe Biden backs in Benjamin Netanyahu
Joe Biden has supported Israel’s claims it is not responsible for the bombing of a Gaza hospital.
Joe Biden has supported Israel’s claims it is not responsible for the bombing of a Gaza hospital that killed hundreds, as the US President vowed to give the Jewish homeland what it needs to defend itself.
Mr Biden arrived in Tel Aviv late on Wednesday night (AEDT) to calm tensions in the Middle East, as Arab nations called off talks with Mr Biden in protest against what they claimed was an Israeli missile strike on the Al-Ahli Arab Hospital in Gaza City.
Israel Defence Forces produced footage it claimed dispelled a “global media campaign” from Hamas terrorists to inflame the region over the hospital tragedy.
But in the opening remarks of his historic talks with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, Mr Biden said he had seen evidence that anti-Israeli forces were responsible for the explosion.
The tragedy dramatically raised the stakes of Mr Biden’s meeting with Mr Netanyau in Tel Aviv in a visit aimed at showing America’s unwavering support for Israel in its war against Hamas.
In the face of growing anger among Palestinians, Mr Biden was also set to urge Israel to do whatever it could to minimise civilian casualties in its growing confrontation with Hamas in Gaza.
Mr Biden hugged Mr Netanyahu and Israeli President Isaac Herzog after landing in Tel Aviv.
“Welcome Mr President. God bless you for protecting the nation of Israel,” Mr Herzog said to his US counterpart.
The US President said his administration would “continue to ensure that (Israeli forces) have everything they need to defend themselves.”
Mr Biden also doubled down on his comparison of Hamas to Islamic State, and said the Palestinian terror group had committed atrocities that made ISIS look “somewhat more rational.”
Just an hour before Mr Biden’s arrival, IDF spokesman Daniel Hagari claimed the explosion at the hospital was caused by Islamic Jihad terrorists who had fired a barrage of rockets near the building at the time.
The IDF released footage of rocket fire, which it said proved its claim, and drone imagery which appeared to show there was no direct hit to the hospital and the crater created in the nearby car park was not large enough to be the result of an Israeli rocket.
“According to our intelligence, Hamas checked the reports, understood it was an Islamic Jihad rocket that had misfired and decided to launch a global media campaign to hide what really happened,” Rear Admiral Hagari said. “They went as far as inflating the numbers of casualties. They understood with absolute certainty that it was a rocket misfired by Islamic Jihad that damaged the hospital.
“Analysis of our area footage confirms that there was no direct hit to the hospital itself. The only location damage is outside the hospital in the parking lot.”
Mr Biden’s visit came as Foreign Minister Penny Wong said the Australian government had reimposed targeted financial sanctions and travel bans on 19 Iranian nationals and 57 entities for their role in Iran’s nuclear and missile programs.
“Iran’s proliferation of ballistic and cruise missiles raises tensions in an already volatile region,” Senator Wong said. “Iran must cease its escalators actions in its nuclear program and recommit to full compliance with its nuclear-related commitments.”
The move comes as the Iranian-backed terror group Hezbollah continues to fire rockets at Israeli targets from southern Lebanon, raising fears that the group might launch its own attack, triggering a region-wide war.
The blast at the hospital in Gaza killed as many as 500 people, including patients, health workers and civilians who were sheltering there.
It was the deadliest attack in Gaza since the Israel-Hamas conflict erupted on October 7, when terrorists killed 1300 Israelis and kidnapped up to 200 hostages in the worst single attacks on Jews since the Holocaust..
The tragedy sparked fury in Arab nations, which believed that Israel was responsible, with protesters taking to the streets in Amman, Baghdad, Beirut and the West Bank.
It led to the cancellation of a planned summit in Jordan between Mr Biden and three key Arab leaders, Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas, Jordan’s King Abdullah II and Egyptian President Abdel Fattah el-Sissi.
In a statement before he arrived in Israel, Mr Biden said he was “outraged and deeply saddened by the explosion at the Al Ahli Arab hospital in Gaza, and the terrible loss of life that resulted”.
“The US stands unequivocally for the protection of civilian life during conflict and we mourn the patients, medical staff and other innocents killed or wounded in this tragedy,” he said.
In Canberra Prime Minister Anthony Albanese described the scenes from the hospital as “deeply distressing” and without saying who might be responsible, called for international law to be upheld in the conflict.
“Every innocent life matters, that’s whether it is Israeli or Palestinian,” he said. “We condemn any indiscriminate attacks and targeting of civilian infrastructure, including hospitals.”
The hospital attack came after more than 10 days of Israeli bombardment of Gaza, which has killed at least 2800 Palestinians and triggered a humanitarian crisis after Israel cut off water, food and fuel.
Israel has been preparing for a likely ground invasion of Gaza to destroy Hamas after the terror group’s mass attack on Israel on October 7 that left more than 1400 Israelis dead, and resulted in the capture of almost 200 hostages.
In Amman, Jordan’s King Abdullah II condemned “the ugly massacre perpetrated by Israel against innocent civilians”. The king “warned that this war, which has entered a dangerous phase, will plunge the region into an unspeakable disaster”.
A senior Palestinian official said Mr Abbas pulled out of the planned summit in Jordan because he was “very angry after the news of the Israeli massacre at the hospital in Gaza. Meanwhile Saudi Arabia – which had been in negotiations about diplomatic recognition of Israel – blamed the massacre on “the forces of the Israeli occupation”.
In Gaza Hamas called the strike on the hospital a “crime of genocide” by Israel that “reveals the ugly face of this criminal enemy.”
But Rear Admiral Hagari said radar detected outgoing rocket fire at the same moment of the explosion, and intercepted communications between militant groups, indicating that Islamic Jihad fired the rockets.
He said the army had determined there were no Israeli air force, ground or naval attacks in the area at the time of the blast.
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