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Republican Jewish leader says Trump to give ‘blank cheque’ to Israel in Gaza
Republican Jewish Coalition CEO Matt Brooks has celebrated Donald Trump’s record on Israel and said he believes the presidential hopeful will provide a “blank cheque to Israel” to “finish the job quickly” in Gaza.
“If you need to carpet bomb the area, do it. Just get it done. Rip the band-aid off. Finish the job because Hamas needs to be destroyed,” Brooks said at the Republican National Convention on Tuesday.
“This is just taking months and months. All [Trump] is saying is that time is not Israel’s ally. The longer this continues, the more public support erodes, the more international support erodes, and Trump’s point [is] do what you have to do, get it done and get out,” he added.
Brooks also said Trump will “rebuild the US-Israel relationship after four disastrous years under President Biden”.
Donald Trump at the Republican National Convention in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, on July 15
Pentagon Chief stresses land crossings needed for Gaza aid in call with Gallant
US Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin and Israeli Minister of Defense Yoav Gallant discussed their “shared desire” for the “enduring defeat of Hamas” in a call on Tuesday, according to a statement from a Pentagon press secretary.
Austin also “stressed the importance of increasing the flow of humanitarian assistance [to Gaza] through all land crossings” and Israel’s Ashdod port, with the impending closure of the troubled US temporary pier off Gaza’s coast.
Gallant ordered a “total siege” of the Gaza Strip on October 9 and is facing a possible arrest warrant from the International Criminal Court (ICC) after an investigation found reasonable grounds he has committed war crimes including “starvation of civilians as a method of warfare”.
