{"id":32754,"date":"2024-04-06T12:26:17","date_gmt":"2024-04-06T19:26:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/?p=32754"},"modified":"2024-04-06T12:26:19","modified_gmt":"2024-04-06T19:26:19","slug":"after-months-of-progressive-outcry-over-biden-israel-policy-establishment-dems-pile-on","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/2024\/04\/06\/after-months-of-progressive-outcry-over-biden-israel-policy-establishment-dems-pile-on\/","title":{"rendered":"After Months of Progressive Outcry Over Biden Israel Policy, Establishment Dems Pile On"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
\"Tim<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

U.S. Sen. Tim Kaine (D-Va.) speaks during a Senate Budget Committee hearing on May 5, 2022. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

(Photo: Tom Williams\/CQ-Roll Call, Inc. via Getty Images)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Sen. Tim Kaine warned that the status quo in Israel’s war on Gaza “is not working.”<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

JULIA CONLEY<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Apr 05, 2024 (CommonDreams.org)<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

U.S. Sen. Tim Kaine on Friday became the latest centrist Democrat to display a shift in tone regarding the Biden administration’s continued support for Israel\u2014and despite months of intensifying demands from progressive lawmakers and the international community for President Joe Biden to push for a change in policy from Israel, the newly minted critics have appeared to have more success.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Virginia Democrat, who serves on both the Senate Foreign Relations and Armed Services committees, cited the killing<\/a> of seven World Central Kitchen aid workers this week in a lengthy statement in which he said<\/a> Israel’s “current approach is not working” and pushed back against the White House’s opposition to an independent investigation into the attack.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“The United States should join in the call for an independent and international investigation into Monday’s strike on World Central Kitchen volunteers, in which an American was killed,” said Kaine. The senator also renewed his call for the administration to “prioritize the transfer of defensive weapons in all arms sales to Israel while withholding bombs and other offensive weapons that can kill and wound civilians and humanitarian aid workers.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Kaine’s comments came a day after Sen. Chris Coons (D-Del.)\u2014said to be Biden’s closest ally in the Senate\u2014told CNN <\/em>that the U.S. is approaching a point at which it must consider placing conditions on military aid to the Israel Defense Forces (IDF).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“If [Israeli Prime Minister] Benjamin Netanyahu were to order the IDF into Rafah at scale… and make no provision for civilians or for humanitarian aid, I would vote to condition aid to Israel,” Coons said, referring to the southern Gaza city<\/a> where Israel has threatened to start a ground offensive and where 1.5 million displaced Palestinians are staying in shelters and makeshift tents. “I’ve never said that before, I’ve never been here before.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

BREAKING: @sarasidnerCNN<\/a> asks Senator Chris Coons if he supports adding conditions to U.S. military aid to Israel.@ChrisCoons<\/a>: \u201cI think we're at that point\u201d

Watch here: pic.twitter.com\/WpNGEj7tIx<\/a><\/p>— CNN News Central (@NewsCentralCNN) April 4, 2024<\/a><\/blockquote>