NJ Spotlight News
Will Gaza aid workers' deaths prove a turning point?
Clip: 4/4/2024 | 7mVideo has Closed Captions
Interview: Yousef Munayyer, head of the Palestine-Israel Program at the Arab Center
President Joe Biden and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Thursday spoke by phone for the first time since an Israeli drone strike killed seven World Central Kitchen aid workers in Gaza. Biden reportedly expressed “outrage” to Netanyahu over the death of the employees with the U.S.-based charity.
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NJ Spotlight News is a local public television program presented by THIRTEEN PBS
NJ Spotlight News
Will Gaza aid workers' deaths prove a turning point?
Clip: 4/4/2024 | 7mVideo has Closed Captions
President Joe Biden and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Thursday spoke by phone for the first time since an Israeli drone strike killed seven World Central Kitchen aid workers in Gaza. Biden reportedly expressed “outrage” to Netanyahu over the death of the employees with the U.S.-based charity.
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Learn Moreabout PBS online sponsorshiptensions between the Biden Administration and Israeli government are at a new high President Biden and prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu today spoke by phone for the first time since an Israeli drone strike killed seven Aid workers on Monday in Gaza Biden reportedly expressed outrage to Netanyahu over the death of the employees with us-based Charity World Central Kitchen and called the conditions in Gaza quote woefully inadequate and unacceptable the Israeli military initially apologized for the deadly strike calling it a mistake even though the workers were traveling in clearly marked cars in coordination with Israeli authorities according to International reports the IDF today concluded its initial investigation into that incident the report is pending but International and domestic political pressure has been mounting on the Israeli government Secretary of State Anthony blinkin today said the attack wasn't the first on Aid workers in Gaza but it must be the last as the White House noted the civilian death toll from the war that frustration so far hasn't shifted US policy and support for Israel but there's increasing speculation it could be a turning point in the war for more on that I'm joined by Yousef Munayyer head of the Palestine Israel program at the Arab Center in Washington DC Yousef munayer thank you so much for your time how has this latest event uh with regard to the aid workers with World Central Kitchen changed the public discourse about the way this war is being waged in Gaza yeah well well I think it it it certainly seems like a turning point uh although we have seen uh many similar uh strikes for months now um that uh clearly have led to the killing of civilians um Palestinian civilians uh which haven't been turning points unfortunately um there is a possibility uh that that this might be different now and we're seeing increased condemnation of this strike from around the world from of course the Palestinian perspective um this is not only a tragic uh event the killing of these these Aid workers by the Israeli military but it's also tragic that the killing of thousands of Palestinians over 30,000 by this point haven't been a sufficient Turning Point uh and this is a this is a disparity that's not lost on Palestinians uh during this time um but uh one can only hope uh that um you know these these Aid workers uh along with the thousands of Palestinians have been killed did not die in vain uh and that there will be uh change and enough pressure brought upon the Israeli military uh to end uh these strikes and to end this war President Biden offered obviously some of his most emotional comments but also some of his most pointed criticism of Israel and yet in the same breath uh authorized more arms without conditions to be sent to Israel what if anything should we make of that is that something we could should consider new light being shed on those pointed comments uh you know we can look at the comments but I think actions speak much louder than words uh and the reality is that the tap uh of arms to Israel has not been shut off it's been it's been flowing at full capacity from this White House to the Israeli military and that speaks louder I think than than anything else look the White House there's there's there's no doubt right now uh they understand that they they have a political problem um uh Americans broadly and especially Democrats um are outraged by what they're seeing happening in Gaza they're outraged that the United States has not done more to stop it and it's no surprise we're in an election year and they're trying to manage these constituencies but the one message that they're trying to send with their words is undercut by the much louder message that they're sending with their actions and that too is not lost on voters here in the United States yeah what do you say then about the way that the IDF enforces Rules of Engagement against Hamas uh I have been reading um pieces from folks who have intelligence both on the IDF and and the ground operation um that have somewhat insinuated it's a bit of a business as usual well you know if you've been following the ins and outs of this war on a daily basis the different strikes that we've seen and so much of it in this in this day and age with the technology that that we have is is available on video for people to see the amount of information that's out there about these strikes shows a a a complete and callous disregard for human life and even based on the story that um the Israeli media is reporting from Israeli defense sources on the strike that killed these Aid workers the story that they put out there is they thought they saw one armed person that they suspected to be a militant get in this Convoy and that somehow was justification for striking a convoy that they knew also contained all of these aidw workers and so th this is their best explanation for what happened and and even with that it it it involves a justification for killing these Aid workers so those are the rules that they seem to be going by and it explains why we've seen such massive civilian casualties in this war why aren't there controls Yousef on uh Aid convoys such as having um IDF escort uh the aid workers or controls uh maybe requested by the US why haven't we seen that until this point well look that actually was in place uh with this Convoy their location uh their path uh their timing was all coordinated with the Israeli military and still they were targeted and by the way they were not just targeted with one strike uh the first car in the Convoy was hit the people who were injured from that strike attempted to evacuate in another vehicle that vehicle was hit and then the Third vehicle was hit really what happened here was an extermination of these people one after the other Yousef Munayyer is the head of the Palestine Israel program at the Arab Center in Washington DC thank you so much for your Insight thanks for having me [Music]
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