Washington, DC — The Pentagon is moving an aircraft carrier strike group, as well as squadrons of fighter jets, closer to Israel following the weekend terrorist attacks, but Iowa Senator Chuck Grassley doubts the US will dispatch soldiers directly into Israel — and into harm’s way.
Saturday’s attacks by Hamas left a thousand “innocent civilians” dead, according to Grassley, along with at least 11 Americans. The Republican notes how one American media outlet had four sources linking the attacks to Iran, in addition to Hamas leaders thanking Iran for the backing, but Iran’s leaders deny any involvement.
The attacks are a “sobering wake-up call to the world” and to America, Grassley says, as “state-sponsored terrorist groups want to wipe the Jewish people off the face of the earth.”
He calls the attacks on Israel a threat to the entire Middle East. A group called the Party for Socialism and Liberation is organizing an event in downtown Des Moines at 6:30 Tuesday, which it’s calling a Rally for a Free Palestine. A statement from the group says, “The unrelenting oppression, murder, torture and occupation carried out by the Israeli apartheid regime has precipitated a counter-offensive by Palestinian resistance forces. Their actions are a morally and legally legitimate response to escalating Israeli oppression.”
