In his much-anticipated press conference on Thursday, President Joe Biden claimed that he isn’t providing Israel with the 2,000-pound bombs that Israeli forces are using to kill Palestinians in Gaza — a statement that is patently untrue.
Just since October, Biden has sent over 10,000 of these highly destructive bombs to be used in Israel’s assault — raising questions about whether this was another of Biden’s gaffes or simply a lie from Biden as his support among Democratic-leaning voters who are opposed to the genocide has cratered.
“All this criticism about — I wouldn’t provide the weapons they needed,” Biden said, likely referring to a recent scuffle with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who successfully strongarmed the administration into releasing a shipment of 500-pound bombs after criticizing the Biden administration for withholding them.
“I’m not providing the 2,000-pound bombs. They cannot be used in Gaza or any populated area without causing great human tragedy and damage,” he went on.
In the past nine months alone, however, Biden officials have sent at least 14,000 2,000-pound bombs to Israel, Reuters reported in June — as well as 6,500 500-pound bombs, 2,600 250-pound bombs, 3,000 Hellfire missiles, and 1,000 unspecified bunker-buster bombs, among other munitions.
All of these weapons have reportedly been used to kill Palestinians and level entire neighborhoods in Israel’s genocidal assault on Gaza. If Biden really didn’t believe these bombs — which were created to penetrate into deep underground concrete structures to hit military targets or create blasts with huge radii on the surface level — should be used on civilian areas, he wouldn’t have sent them to Israel in such large quantities amid its massacre of Palestinians.
It’s possible that Biden was referring to a single shipment of 1,800 2,000-pound bombs that has been suspended since May, when Israel was beginning its Rafah invasion — a move the administration once claimed would be a red line for Biden officials.
But pausing one shipment is a drop in the bucket considering that the administration has sent Israel 14,000 of these bombs in the last nine months. This is enough to drop 50 2,000-pound bombs on Gaza a day — a place with roughly the same land area as Las Vegas — and that’s not even including the tens of thousands of bombs that the U.S. has sent Israel over the decades to be used against adults and children in Palestine, Lebanon, and more.
In his conference, Biden also said that “it’s time to end this war,” even though a number of reports confirmed this week that his administration is sending another 1,700 500-pound bombs to Israel — bombs that have a smaller blast radius than 2,000-pound ones, but just as much power to kill and destroy within that radius. A May attack in which Israel used two U.S.-made 250-pound bombs on a shelter for displaced people killed at least 45 Palestinians and injured 249.
Though Biden made several embarrassing gaffes during Thursday’s press conference — like referring to Kamala Harris as “Vice President Trump” — pundits praised Biden for his remarks on foreign policy, saying that they were a bright spot in an otherwise concerning set of remarks.
But his comments on Gaza, particularly the 2,000-pound bombs comment, were disturbing to those who have been closely monitoring the genocide.
For instance, Biden characterized Israel’s starvation campaign and near-total humanitarian aid blockade in Gaza — which UN experts have said constitutes “genocidal violence” — as Israel “occasionally” being “less than cooperative” on allowing aid into Gaza. For many, Biden’s comments represent yet another reminder that he will unconditionally back Israel’s genocide no matter the human cost — and without regard for the anger of his constituency at home.
“My numbers are better in Israel than they are here,” Biden said, perhaps presciently.
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