White House says Israel needs to protect civilians, restore water and power in Jenin, with zero acknowledgement that the city is under the jurisdiction of the PA.
By World Israel News Staff
A senior Biden administration official said that the White House is closely “monitoring” developments in Jenin following the largest Israeli incursion into the city since the Second Intifada, stressing Washington’s concerns about the civilian population in the area.
“Israel is a close ally and partner, and we are in touch with the national security and, certainly, the defense officials” regarding the counter-terror raid in Jenin, said White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre during a briefing on Wednesday morning.
“We support, certainly, Israel’s security and right to defend its people against Hamas, Palestinian Islamic Jihad, and other terrorist groups,” Jean-Pierre continued.
“But it is imperative to take all possible steps to protect civilians from harm, and measures need to be taken to improve the humanitarian situation on the ground and restore critical services like electricity and water to the civilian population,” she added, suggesting that it was Israel’s responsibility to ensure that these services are restored.”
Jean-Pierre did not acknowledge that the city is under the jurisdiction of the Palestinian Authority.
“We are monitoring things very closely,” she emphasized.
One reporter at the briefing echoed a BBC journalist’s remarks that terrorists who were under the age of 18 had been killed, without mentioning that they were either 16 or 17 years old and armed combatants engaged in clashes with the IDF.
Jean-Pierre deflected the remark and instead focused on the U.S.- Israel partnership.
Democratic lawmakers Rashida Tlaib (MI) and Ilhan Omar (MN) have repeatedly spoken out against the Jenin operation in recent days.
“Congress must stop funding this violent Israeli apartheid regime,” Tlaib posted on her Twitter account on Tuesday.
“How long will we continue to fund Netanyahu’s human rights abuses with zero strings attached? How long will we allow him to make peace impossible with no consequences?” Omar wrote on Twitter.
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