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Biden says "Israel has a right to defend itself," expresses hope conflict will end soon

13 May 2021
 Dan Ackermann

President Biden told reporters Wednesday it's his "expectation and hope" that there will soon be an end to fighting between Israel and Hamas, which has killed scores of Palestinians and several Israelis.

Details: Biden, after speaking with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, said that he hoped the conflict would be "closing down sooner than later," despite Israel's government announcing plans to scale up its military offensive.

  • Biden added that "Israel has a right to defend itself when you have thousands of rockets flying into your territory."

Of note: Comments by Biden and his administration have angered progressives in his Democratic Party, including Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.) who called it "wrong."

  • She tweeted that "blanket statements like these" with "little context or acknowledgement of what precipitated this cycle" of violence "dehumanize Palestinians" and imply the U.S. will "look the other way at human rights violations," pointing to the "expulsions of Palestinians and attacks on Al Aqsa" Mosque.

What to watch: Per Axios' Barak Ravid, the Israeli security cabinet approved Wednesday military plans for broadening the operation against Hamas and the Islamic Jihad in Gaza.

Why it matters: Israeli officials said there is no deadline for ending the operation but it will focus for now on air strikes with no ground forces.

For the record: Netanyahu said at the cabinet meeting that Israel doesn’t want a cease fire at the moment, per Ravid.

  • Both Netanyahu and Foreign Minister Gabi Ashkenazi added that the international community understands the Israel's actions and doesn’t put pressure on ending the operation for now.

Go deeper: Casualties pile up with no signs of ceasefire from Israel, Hamas

Transcripts show George Floyd told police "I can't breathe" over 20 times

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Newly released transcripts of bodycam footage from the Minneapolis Police Department show that George Floyd told officers he could not breathe more than 20 times in the moments leading up to his death.

Why it matters: Floyd's killing sparked a national wave of Black Lives Matter protests and an ongoing reckoning over systemic racism in the United States. The transcripts "offer one the most thorough and dramatic accounts" before Floyd's death, The New York Times writes.

The state of play: The transcripts were released as former officer Thomas Lane seeks to have the charges that he aided in Floyd's death thrown out in court, per the Times. He is one of four officers who have been charged.

  • The filings also include a 60-page transcript of an interview with Lane. He said he "felt maybe that something was going on" when asked if he believed that Floyd was having a medical emergency at the time.

What the transcripts say:

  • Floyd told the officers he was claustrophobic as they tried to get him into the squad car.
  • The transcripts also show Floyd saying, "Momma, I love you. Tell my kids I love them. I'm dead."
  • Former officer Derek Chauvin, who had his knee on Floyd's neck for over eight minutes, told Floyd, "Then stop talking, stop yelling, it takes a heck of a lot of oxygen to talk."

Read the transcripts via DocumentCloud.