U.S. Secretary of State Tony Blinken appeared on four major media talk shows on Sunday, today, to discuss the Israeli-Hamas conflict. The possibility of Israeli and/or U.S. action against Iran was one major topic.
Kristen Welker of NBC’s “Meet the Press” asked him if Iran played a role in this attack. He answered: “Iran and Hamas have a long relationship. Hamas wouldn’t be Hamas without the support it’s had for many years from Iran. In this moment, we don’t have anything that shows us that Iran was directly involved in this attack, in planning it or in carrying it out, but that’s something we’re looking at very carefully, and we’ve got to see where the facts lead.”
CBS News’ Margaret Brennan asked, “Has the United States asked Israel not to strike Iran?” Blinken sidestepped the question: “The only things we’ve said to Israel are that we’re here; we’ve got your back; we want to make sure that you have the support that you need; we want to make sure that you have the assistance that you need….”
She insisted: “But the door is open for Israel to expand this, to take the fight to potentially sponsors of Hamas, like Iran?” Blinken: “Israel is focused entirely on Gaza and on securing its citizens … and, as I said, trying to do what’s necessary to have accountability and to make sure that this doesn’t happen again…. One way or another, they’re going to have to take steps to make sure that, to the best of their ability, this doesn’t repeat itself.”
As for U.S. policy on Gaza, Blinken would tolerate no discussion of the genocidal apartheid which Israel’s Netanyahu government, in particular, has imposed on Palestine’s Gaza.
