Several #Republican senators, incl’g #RickScott & #MarshaBlackburn introduced #bills to #block #humanitarian aid from reaching #Gaza or #Palestinian #refugees.

Others, primarily #Democrats, echoed the #Biden admin’s concerns. “The hope is that the conflict can be stopped from spreading by deterring #Hezbollah & #Iran, but also to make sure that #Israel has some sense of what the end game is,” Sen #RichardBlumenthal (D) said Fri.

#PreventativeDiplomacy #NationalSecurity #MiddleEast #geopolitics

At a news conference before his departure, #Austin firmly took #Israel’s side, saying that after the attacks, “this is no time for neutrality or for false equivalence or for excuses for the inexcusable.”

But he called for calm in the days ahead.

“This is a time for resolve & not revenge, for purpose & not panic, & for security & not surrender.”

#Hamas #war #diplomacy #UnitedStates #PreventativeDiplomacy #ForeignPolicy #alliance #MNNA #NationalSecurity #GlobalSecurity #MiddleEast #geopolitics

On Fri a #UnitedStates destroyer in the Red Sea intercepted cruise #missiles launched toward #Israel by #Iran-backed #Houthi militants in #Yemen.

Meanwhile, the #Biden admin’s hopes for an expansion of the #AbrahamAccords — the diplomatic rapprochement between some #Arab countries & #Israel — now seem indefinitely postponed, if not doomed.

#Hamas #war #POTUS #diplomacy #PreventativeDiplomacy #ForeignPolicy #alliances #NationalSecurity #GlobalSecurity #MiddleEast #geopolitics

And then came the longer-term concerns, something #Israel, in its immediate #rage, seemed less interested in contemplating: If you succeed in destroying #Hamas, what will you do w/ #Gaza? And what will happen to your hopes — & ours — for broader #MiddleEast #peace?

#Biden reminded the Israelis of the “mistakes” the #UnitedStates had made as it struck out in fury after the #alQaeda attacks in Sept 2001….

#diplomacy #PreventativeDiplomacy #ForeignPolicy #alliance #NationalSecurity #geopolitics