Former Mossad Chief criticizes Biden for suspending arms shipments to Israel

Israel should be given the freedom to attack the Izz ad-Din al-Qassam Brigades, the military wing of the Palestinian resistance group Hamas, says Former Mossad chief Yossi Cohen

Former Mossad chief Yossi Cohen criticized U.S. President Joe Biden for suspending arms shipments to Israel at a Memorial Day event in Israel.

Cohen criticized Biden’s decision to suspend U.S. arms shipments to Israel, arguing that Israel ‘should be given the freedom to attack’ the Izz ad-Din al-Qassam Brigades, the military wing of the Palestinian resistance group Hamas in the Gaza Strip.

U.S. defense chief Lloyd Austin said last week that Washington is “currently reviewing some near-term security assistance shipments” to Israel. Austin added that the U.S. would want to see “no major combat” in the southern Gazan city of Rafah.

“We’re gonna continue to do what’s necessary to ensure that Israel has the means to defend itself. But that said, we are currently reviewing some near-term security assistance shipments in unfolding events in Rafah,” Austin said during testimony before the Senate Appropriations Committee’s defense subcommittee about the Pentagon’s budget for the fiscal year 2025.

Austin said the US has been very clear from the very beginning that Israel should not launch a major attack in Rafah without first accounting for and protecting the civilians in the battle space.

In an interview with CNN, Biden said: “If they go into Rafah, they haven’t gone into Rafah with a full-scale attack yet, and if they do, then I’ve made it clear I will not send the weapons that were used in Rafah and other cities.”

Seven months into the Israeli onslaught, vast swathes of Gaza lay in ruins, pushing 85% of the enclave’s population into internal displacement amid a crippling blockade of food, clean water, and medicine, according to the U.N.

Israel is accused of genocide by the International Court of Justice (ICJ). An interim ruling in January said it is “plausible” that Israel is committing genocide in Gaza and ordered Tel Aviv to stop such acts and take measures to guarantee that humanitarian assistance is provided to civilians in Gaza.

Source: Newsroom & AA