US Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin said on April 30 that US troops building a floating dock along Gaza’s coast would have the ability and authority to open fire into the besieged enclave “to protect themselves”. This puts a big question mark on President Joe Biden’s previous claims that Washington would have no “boots on the ground” in Gaza.
This printer The Cradle.
«[Det vil] be around 1,000 US soldiers operating a brewing system outside Gaza. How many of them want weapons, Mr Defense Minister?’ Rep. Matt Gaetz asked the Pentagon chief during a House Armed Services Committee hearing on Tuesday.
“Typically, all deployed service members carry weapons and have the ability to protect themselves if challenged,” Austin replied.
“Don’t you think that counts as boots on the ground? President Biden told the country that we were not going to have boots on the ground in Gaza,” Gaetz told Austin. To which the defense minister replied: “And we don’t want that”.
US troops are building a $320 million “Joint Logistics Over The Shore” jetty system off the coast of Gaza to allegedly “facilitate the flow” of humanitarian aid into Gaza. Biden announced the project nearly two months ago in response to Tel Aviv’s refusal to open border crossings to the enclave and blockades of aid convoys by Israeli settlers.
Regional experts have warned that the floating jetty could facilitate the mass deportation of Gaza’s population by sea.
“This military tactical port will receive Israeli approval because Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has been pursuing this idea since the beginning of the war, aiming at the voluntary expulsion of Gazans and their [flukt] to Europe,” Hisham Khreisat, a Jordanian military and strategic expert, told Turkey Anadolu Agency in March.
That the US is a participant in Israel’s war against Gaza is only becoming more and more obvious.
Will ban Palestinian flag in Eurovision in Malmö (Pride flag allowed!)
04:54 The organizer of the Eurovision Song Contest, the EBU, will ban Palestinian flags and signs with political messages inside the Malmö Arena during the competition, according to Göteborgs-Posten. Only national flags from participating countries are allowed inside the arena. In addition, pride flags are also allowed. Large demonstrations are expected against Israel’s participation in the music competition, writes Aftonbladet. (NRK)
