President Biden has received criticism from Democrats and Republicans this week over his response to an Israeli airstrike that killed seven World Central Kitchen aid workers in Gaza on Monday.
On Tuesday, Biden, 81, said he was “outraged and heartbroken” over the deaths of the aid workers delivering food to Gaza’s population, but didn’t signal any change in approach to his administration’s backing of Israel in its war against Hamas.
The president, in his public statement, pinned the blame squarely on Israel, demanding an investigation that “must bring accountability” and accusing the Jewish state of not having “done enough to protect aid workers” in the Palestinian territory.
Privately, Politico reports, Biden is “enraged” over the airstrike and was “angry” when he was notified that the Israel Defense Forces mistakenly targeted members of celebrity chef Jose Andres’ humanitarian group.
Jon Favreau, a one time speechwriter for former President Barack Obama and the host of “Pod Save America,” slammed Biden over the report, arguing that private expressions of rage are not enough in the aftermath of Monday’s tragedy.
“The President doesn’t get credit for being ‘privately enraged’ when he still refuses to use leverage to stop the IDF from killing and starving innocent people,” Favreau wrote on X.
“These stories only make him look weak,” he added.
Democratic Michigan state Rep. Abraham Aiyash argued that “Deeds are more important than dialogue” in a tweet aimed at Biden.
“The President is prioritizing Netanyahu’s Israel over the preservation of innocent life and basic human decency – and risks unraveling American democracy because of it,” he added.
Meanwhile, some Republicans ripped the president for aiming his ire at Israel rather than Hamas.
“How about Biden being outraged over the American and Israeli hostages being brutalized by the Hamas savages and remembering that Hamas is the cause of all of this tragedy,” Rep. Derrick Van Orden (R-Wis.) fumed on X.
“Biden has abandoned Israel,” he added.
Rep. Mike Waltz (R-Fla.) noted that the Biden administration mistakenly targeted aid worker Zemari Ahmadi, killing him and members of his family in a drone strike as the US withdrew from Afghanistan in August 2021.
“REMINDER: The Biden Administration carried out a drone strike on an aid worker and his family during the disastrous Afghanistan withdrawal,” Waltz tweeted. “There was no accountability for that action.”
“Biden might want to hold off on the righteous indignation and criticism,” he added.
At least 196 humanitarian workers have been killed in Gaza since the outbreak of the war, according to the United Nations.
