General Martin Dempsey, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, recently praised Israel’s extraordinary efforts to prevent civilian casualties in Gaza and mentioned that the Pentagon sent a team to Israel to learn from the IDF’s policies. Yet the U.S. State Department is standing by its critique of Israel for not doing enough on this score. David Bernstein writes:
Incredibly, when asked about Dempsey’s statement, State Department spokesperson Jan Psaki asserts “it remains the broad view of the entire administration that [Israel] could have done more and they should have taken more—all feasible precautions to prevent civilian casualties.” First, Dempsey is an Obama appointee, so the idea that the “entire administration” agrees with this is nonsense. Second, we have the informed judgment of America’s top military commander against State Department civilians who don’t even bother to wait until the facts are established before condemning Israel, plus Benjamin Rhodes, whose only claim to military knowledge is that he’s been serving as President Obama’s mouthpiece on foreign-policy matters since 2007 . . .
Read more on Washington Post: http://www.washingtonpost.com/news/volokh-conspiracy/wp/2014/11/10/joint-chiefs-chairman-dempsey-undermines-obama-administration-criticism-of-israeli-actions-in-gaza/