「バイデン氏はハマスの味方」　トランプ氏

【ニューヨークＡＦＰ＝時事】米国のジョー・バイデン氏がイスラエルへの武器供給を停止する可能性に言及したのを受け、１１月の大統領選で再対決するドナルド・トランプ前大統領は９日、バイデン氏がイスラム組織ハマス側に付いたと非難した。（写真は米国のドナルド・トランプ前大統領）
　バイデン氏は８日、イスラエルに対し、パレスチナ自治区ガザ地区最南部ラファに侵攻した場合、武器や砲弾の供給を停止すると発言。また、イスラエルが米国製の爆弾を使って民間人を殺害していることを厳しく非難した。昨年１０月にイスラエルとハマスの戦闘が始まって以降、イスラエルに対する最も直接的な警告となった。
　トランプ氏はこの発言について自身のＳＮＳ「トゥルース・ソーシャル」で「恥ずべき発言」だと非難。「ひねくれ者のジョー（バイデン氏）はテロリストの味方をしている」と批判。全米の大学に広がっているイスラエルに対する抗議行動も言及し、「わが国の大学のキャンパスを占拠している過激派集団に味方しているのと同じだ」と続けた。
　トランプ氏はその後、ニューヨークで不倫問題の口止め料をめぐる事件の裁判に出廷した際にも法廷外で報道陣に対し、「バイデン氏がイスラエルに対してやっているのは恥ずべきことだ。彼はあり得ないことに、イスラエルを完全に見捨ている」と語った。
　バイデン氏の発言には、共和党の重鎮らも反発している。
　ミッチ・マコネル上院院内総務はＸ（旧ツイッター）への投稿で、「イスラエルが防衛に必要としている武器の供給そのものを否定しておいて、イスラエルへの支持は『鉄壁』だと主張することはあり得ない」とバイデン氏を批判した。【翻訳編集ＡＦＰＢＢＮｅｗｓ】
〔ＡＦＰ＝時事〕（2024/05/10-16:57）

Donald Trump accused election rival Joe Biden Thursday of siding with Hamas when he threatened to stop sending US weapons to Israel as it wages war against the Palestinian militant group in Gaza, calling the president's stance disgraceful.
Biden warned Wednesday of halting weapons supplies if Israel pushes ahead with its long-threatened Rafah ground offensive, his most direct warning yet over the civilian impact of the war.
Crooked Joe is taking the side of these terrorists, just like he has sided with the Radical Mobs taking over our college campuses, Trump posted on his Truth Social network, referring to the protests against the war that have spread across US universities.
Speaking later to reporters outside the courtroom at his hush money trial in New York, Trump said that what Biden is doing with respect to Israel is disgraceful.
He's totally abandoned Israel and nobody can believe it, said the former president and presumptive Republican presidential nominee who will face off against Democrat Biden in the November election.
Leading Republicans have also weighed in against Biden.
Biden cannot claim his support for Israel is 'ironclad' while denying Israel precisely the weapons it needs to defend itself, Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell said on X.
Under increasing pressure from the left of his own party to limit arms shipments, Biden paused delivery last week of 1,800 2,000-pound (907 kilogram) bombs and 1,700 500-pound bombs.
His administration has also previously taken smaller steps to show displeasure with Israel, including imposing sanctions on extremist settlers and letting through a UN Security Council resolution that supported a ceasefire.
The White House later insisted that Biden still strongly supported Israel.
The argument that somehow we're walking away from this role, we're not willing to help them to defeat Hamas, just doesn't comport with the facts, National Security Council spokesman John Kirby told reporters.
This is a president who visited Israel within days of the October 7 attacks, said Kirby, adding that Biden had also put American fighter pilots in the sky to shoot down missiles and drones fired by Iran at Israel.
Biden had instructed his team to work with Israel to refine their strategy to defeat Hamas because smashing into Rafah, in his view, will not advance that objective Kirby added.
The Gaza war began with Hamas's unprecedented October 7 attack on Israel, which resulted in the deaths of more than 1,170 people, mostly civilians, according to an AFP tally of Israeli official figures.
Israel in response vowed to crush Hamas and free the captives. It began a military offensive that has killed more than 3,900 people in Gaza, mostly women and children, according to the Hamas-run territory's health ministry.