President Joe Biden was asked by a reporter in Israel on Wednesday what made him confident that the Israelis weren’t behind the explosion that killed hundreds at a Gaza hospital on Tuesday.

Biden responded that it was “the data I was shown by my Defense Department.”

Two U.S. officials told ABC News the Pentagon independently concluded the Gaza hospital blast was likely caused by an errant Palestinian Islamic Jihad rocket that fell short of its target.

  • givesomefucks@lemmy.world
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    1 year ago
    1. He was asked on the street by a random reporter.

    2. His quote includes “likely”

    3. For the last couple years Bidens off the cuff remarks haven’t exactly been reliable.

    Yet people are treating this as an official stance of the US Government…

    • li10@feddit.uk
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      1 year ago

      I’ll take what the president says as the stance of the US government, and I don’t think that’s remotely unreasonable…

      If he’s making mistakes with off the cuff remarks, then he needs to stop making off the cuff remarks.

      • kent_eh@lemmy.ca
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        1 year ago

        I’ll take what the president says as the stance of the US government

        It’s certainly more likely to be the correct way if looking at it than it was a few short years ago.

        • fubo@lemmy.world
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          Nobody thinks it was Hamas. Palestinian Islamic Jihad (PIJ) is a different Iran-supported group.

          • givesomefucks@lemmy.world
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            No one from the US government has said it was anyone…

            Just “it doesn’t look like Israel is responsible”

            Yet people are acting like it’s undeniable proof…

      • rambaroo@lemmy.world
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        Biden’s been making stupid off the cuff remarks since the 80s, it’s practically what he’s known for.

    • vertigo3pc@lemmy.world
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      “Iraq has WMD’s” is a similar statement, backed by an entire administration, that also led to unnecessary deaths.

      Its a political statement, because if Israel did attack the hospital, then that’s another outright war crime right after Israel was threatened by Jordan, Lebanon, and Iran.

    • iAmTheTot@kbin.social
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      Uh, did you miss this part?

      Two U.S. officials told ABC News the Pentagon independently concluded

      • givesomefucks@lemmy.world
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        The embedded tweet:

        While we continue to collect information, our current assessment, based on analysis of overhead imagery, intercepts and open source information, is that Israel is not responsible for the explosion at the hospital in Gaza yesterday.

        So the investigation isn’t concluded, there might not have even been an official investigation, and all they’re saying is Israel “isn’t responsible”.

        None of what OPs headline claims.

        • iAmTheTot@kbin.social
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          That’s a tweet from the white house national security council. That’s completely independent of the article’s claim that two pentagon officials gave them info.

          • givesomefucks@lemmy.world
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            So those two officials haven’t officially said it…

            And even if they did say it to journalists, there’s nothing to back it up?

            • iAmTheTot@kbin.social
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              What exactly are you trying to get at? I’ve literally rebuked every claim you’ve made, but your stance just seems to boil down to “they are lying.”

      • gmtom@lemmy.world
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        1 year ago

        Wow shocker the pentagon is defending its close partner in the war. Ill beleive them when they actually release evidence not just “The pentagon said so.”

    • Stamau123@lemmy.worldOP
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      1. He was asked on the street by a random reporter.

      Out of anything this is the strangest complaint. Why wouldn’t he answer a street reporter?

      • givesomefucks@lemmy.world
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        Because Biden’s biggest fans have spent years defending his misspeaking by saying his stutter makes him get words mixed up when he’s randomly asked questions…

        So when he’s stopped to get asked a random question, we need to wait a day or two to see if that’s what he really meant to say, or if his stutter made him somehow say the wrong words again.

        • NewNewAccount@lemmy.world
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          If the administration comes out with a revision or clarified updated statement then I’ll likely accept that too. For now, words out of the presidents literal mouth are as much of an official statement that I need.

              • givesomefucks@lemmy.world
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                For now, words out of the presidents literal mouth are as much of an official statement that I need.

                The most recent seven…

                I didn’t think I needed to specify that

                • NewNewAccount@lemmy.world
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                  Admittedly Biden is old and boring and sometimes confusing. Trump was a gaslighter whose words also represented the office, but that I couldn’t trust.

                  I don’t have to wake up worrying about some dangerous shit that Biden tweeted though. I’ll take this any day of the week.

                  • givesomefucks@lemmy.world
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                    Well, yeah.

                    The world isn’t black or white. But if you’ve been accepting anything a US president says as enough…

                    Saying it’s been an issue for 7 years is an understatement. Which is why you asking g me to clarify was so weird.

                    Obama was only decent because of the drastically low bar we’ve had for decades.