In meetings in Israel, U.S. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin conveyed to Israeli leaders that it’s important to observe international rules of warfare.

As Israel girds for a fearsome ground assault into Gaza, senior Biden administration officials are warning their Israeli counterparts to show restraint and avoid mass civilian casualties and a humanitarian disaster that could turn world opinion against the Jewish state, according to two current and one former U.S. official.

    • NoneOfUrBusiness@kbin.social
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      1 year ago

      As a wise man/woman once said around here:

      The US has two parties: One believes the US should keep supporting Israel’s genocide of Palestinians, another believes the US should support Israel’s genocide of Palestinians harder.

      There are no liberals when it comes to Israel in most of the world (props for Ireland for being the exception).

    • dependencyInjection@sh.itjust.works
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      1 year ago

      What exactly is a Biden defender?

      Do you believe people deserve carte Blanche defence at all times.

      Or can people do some things you agree with and other things you don’t?

    • gAlienLifeform@lemmy.world
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      1 year ago

      Do you think losing an election is going to make moderate Democrats less shitty? Because 2016 just seemed to turbo charge their left-punching impulses. For progressives, I think the best shot at change is giving the Democratic party supermajorities in Congress and control of the White House, demanding they do the popular things they ran on, exposing all the two-faced hacks who never had any intention of doing those things, and then primarying the hell out of them. Allowing Republicans to win just gives the hacks something to hide behind (and it turbocharges their fundraising when that money could be going to a lot better causes).

        • gAlienLifeform@lemmy.world
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          1 year ago

          Fair enough, that was a rhetorical question, which is kind of lazy/obnoxious writing, so let me re-phrase - losing elections to Republicans only makes moderate Democratic party members more obnoxious, and not voting for Dems in general elections is likely to produce that result

    • assassin_aragorn@lemmy.world
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      1 year ago

      Which part of “show restraint and don’t kill civilians when taking out the terrorists” strikes you as not “liberal”?

      You haven’t made it clear at all what you take issue with of telling someone to show restraint. Do you find the very act of retaliation against Hamas for their attack to be unacceptable or something?

    • FlowVoid@lemmy.world
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      1 year ago

      According to the article, Biden said:

      “This was act of pure evil… Terrorists purposefully target civilians, kill them. We uphold the laws of war — the law of war. It matters. There’s a difference."

      All of these statements are very easy to defend.

          • Star@lemmy.blahaj.zone
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            1 year ago

            Is he left of the right? Then he is on the left and is a leftist. Yes, the ideals are shifting right, but he’s still left of right, so a leftist. It’s a relative word; language is fun!

              • Star@lemmy.blahaj.zone
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                1 year ago

                Not arguing that. Just meaning to say that, while not the left we want, the less right are the “leftists” in the conversation. Arguing that “lol those guys aren’t left” is a non-important point.

                Just talk about the subject and stop labeling and judging the labels of left versus right.

                So much time is wasted on it.

                *i realize I’m wasting g my own time on it. Damn. Bye!

            • retrieval4558@mander.xyz
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              1 year ago

              It’s not a relative word though. It describes a specific set of political beliefs, which Biden does not hold… so he’s not a leftist. He’s a liberal, and barely one at that.

    • Riccosuave@lemmy.world
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      1 year ago

      I have personally made the decision to abstain from voting in the 2024 presidential election at this point if Biden is the nominee. I cannot in good conscience vote for another president who clearly learned nothing from the protracted “War on Terror”, and who now publicly supports ethnic cleansing by Israel simply to score political points.

      • holycrap@lemm.ee
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        1 year ago

        Be sure to vote in the primaries.

        Unfortunately with first past the post the only way to vote against the republican candidate is to vote for the Democrat even if he’s awful. That’s how Biden got elected. And that’s why the primaries are so important.

        • Riccosuave@lemmy.world
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          1 year ago

          I always vote down ballot in every election, and have voted in every election since I was legally able to vote. I understand the importance of local and state elections.

      • Rob@lemmy.world
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        1 year ago

        Great. What’s your address, so when Trump wins and we descend into ChristoFascism, I can send you flowers and a thank you note?

        • Riccosuave@lemmy.world
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          1 year ago

          You entered into this discussion because I said I had an ethical problem with voting for Biden when he continues to justify and tacitly support Israeli war crimes and their continued ethnic cleansing of the Palestinian people. Let’s not forget that.

          Your stupid fucking bullshit take was that I’m the asshole because I even suggested that I was uncomfortable voting for him after that, and was therefore guilty by association in the hypothetical event Donald Trump gets reelected.

          I then continued by pointing out that my vote has no legitimate bearing on the electoral process due to the fact that we don’t elect candidates based on the popular vote, and my state is already a Democrat stronghold. You want to make me guilty by association to justify your own guilt for supporting imperialist, genocidal, zionist foreign policy with your hypothetical vote I guess. You voted for it, so by your logic that makes you equally responsible for the evil & death carried out in your name via the democratic process that you want to jerk yourself off for supporting.

          So, don’t be surprised when someone holds you responsible for being an enabler of an ongoing genocide, and an establishment sycophant I guess.

          I prefer to be on the side of not supporting psychopathic behavior that is being carried out in the name of religion regardless what fucking flag their country flies, or how much they want to permanently paint themselves out to be the victim. That’s something you and Israel have in common actually. You both think you’re the victim when really you’re the one defending the process of further victimization.

          • FlowVoid@lemmy.world
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            1 year ago

            “I’m relying on someone else to do something that I won’t do” is not a very compelling statement of personal ethics.

            Right there with “My personal ethics is to keep moving, because someone else will stop to help that stranger in need.”

              • FlowVoid@lemmy.world
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                1 year ago

                You won’t do something because you are certain that someone else will do it for you.

                That’s not personal conviction.

                Democrats have won by +60% in every single presidential election in my state since before I was even born.

                That’s only possible if you are 18 years old or younger. In which case it’s not saying much.

                • Riccosuave@lemmy.world
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                  1 year ago

                  I don’t know where you are getting this idea of “doing something for me”.

                  I explained what the statistical reality is, and you somehow take that as me relying on someone else to do my dirty work by holding their nose and voting for someone they don’t want to vote for in order to make up the gap. Well that just isn’t the fucking case.

                  I was being slightly hyperbolic about Democrats winning with 60% of the vote, so I actually just looked up the statistics since 1990. It has tilted blue by an average of +20% points since then.

                  So please, be more pedantic, and tell me how you think me choosing not to vote for Biden makes a shit bit of difference because it doesn’t.

                  • FlowVoid@lemmy.world
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                    1 year ago

                    If you need to know what people around you are doing before you can decide what to do, then you aren’t acting out of personal conviction.

                    If you were truly acting out of personal conviction, then your state statistics would be completely irrelevant to you.

      • TwoGems@lemmy.world
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        1 year ago

        Oh ok so by not voting, you’re actually voting for the GOP, therefore making the problem even worse.

        Good job!