WATCH: The US military’s plan to ‘surge’ aid to Palestinians is a major fail
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As we’ve said many times, all is not what it seems when it comes to Washington headlines. Well, this story has to be the epitome of that warning. In March, President Biden announced that the U.S. military would be building two piers — one floating, the other attached to the Gaza coast — to surge aid into the embattled and beleaguered Palestinians living there.
The project was supposed to have the blessing of the Israeli government and was to be open for business so to speak, in two months time. Well it did begin operations in May, but as for fulfilling the aid surge, well, the story takes quite a turn. Here to catch us up this week with what happened and how the Biden admin has been misleading the public on this project, is Stephen Semler, co-founder of the Security Policy Reform Institute, a think tank that develops policy ideas for the working class.
Semler also writes the Polygraph newsletter on Substack, and published a great piece on this topic for Responsible Statecraft entitled “Washington is not telling the truth about the Gaza pier.” I wrote that headline, and was toggling back and forth between “Washington” not telling the truth and the “Biden administration” not telling the truth. I went with Washington because it’s not just the administration, but the military and the compliant media, too, that have massaged this debacle so that the enormity of the failure and inevitable questioning of motives here are hidden. Stephen brings us up to speed with the project, and points out that less aid is getting into Gaza than when the “surge” pier opened – how does that work?
More on the Pentagon Pier project:
Washington is not telling truth about the Gaza pier
Alarming lack of detail in military's Gaza aid project
Where is the US military's $320M pier project?
$320M US military pier to open for business, but storms ahead
Mission creep: Will pier become a beachhead for US in Gaza?
More from Stephen Semler:
A Pentagon budget of $1 trillion is looming. Here’s how to stop it
Biden Is Bankrolling Israel's War Amid Growing Financial Hardship at Home