57 of 212 Democrats sign letter calling on the administration to dissuade all-out assault on Rafah
\nWASHINGTON
\nUS President Joe Biden\u2019s administration faced renewed pressure on Wednesday from his fellow Democrats to influence Israel not to launch a full-scale invasion of Rafah, the city where almost half of the Gaza Strip\u2019s 2.3 million people have taken refuge.
\nFifty-seven of the 212 Democrats in the House of Representatives signed a letter calling on the administration to take every possible measure to dissuade Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu\u2019s government from an all-out assault on the city near the Egyptian border.
\n\u201cWe urge you to invoke existing law and policy to immediately withhold certain offensive military aid to the Israeli government, including aid sourced from legislation already signed into law, in order to preempt a full-scale assault on Rafah,\u201d said the letter, dated Wednesday.
\nThe White House did not immediately respond to a request for comment on the letter, which was led by Representatives Pramila Jayapal and Madeleine Dean.
\nBiden\u2019s support for Israel in its war against Hamas has emerged as a significant political liability for the president, particularly among young Democrats. It fueled a wave of \u201cuncommitted\u201d protest votes in Democratic primaries and has also driven the wave of pro-Palestinian protests at U.S. universities.
\nThat is raising worries for Democrats as Biden is locked in a tight re-election rematch against his Republican predecessor Donald Trump.
\nSecretary of State Antony Blinken said on Wednesday he had still not seen a plan for Israel\u2019s promised offensive on Rafah that would protect civilians, repeating that Washington could not support such an assault.
\nBlinken and Netanyahu met in Jerusalem for 2-1\/2 hours on Wednesday, after which Israel repeated that the Rafah operation would go ahead despite the U.S. position and a U.N. warning that it would lead to \u201ctragedy.\u201d
\nThe United States is Israel\u2019s main diplomatic supporter and weapons supplier. Blinken\u2019s visit to Israel came about a month after Biden issued a stark warning that Washington\u2019s policy could shift if Israel fails to take steps to address civilian harm, humanitarian suffering and the safety of aid workers.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
57 of 212 Democrats sign letter calling on the administration to dissuade all-out assault on Rafah WASHINGTON US President Joe Biden\u2019s administration faced renewed pressure on Wednesday from his fellow Democrats to influence Israel not to launch a full-scale invasion of Rafah, the city where almost half of the Gaza Strip\u2019s 2.3 million people have […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":404308,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-404309","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-world"},"yoast_head":"\n