It’s revealing that in the Nov. 8 testimony before the House Foreign Affairs Committee, the Assistant Secretary for Near Eastern Affairs Barbara Leaf remarked that in “this period of conflict and conditions of war”—viz., the Israeli war on Gaza—"it is very difficult for any of us to assess what the rate of casualties are. We think they’re very high, frankly, and it could be that they’re even higher than are being cited.” According to The Hill Nov. 9, Leaf said: “I can’t stipulate to one figure or another, it’s very possible they’re even higher than is being reported.” This is a rather obvious departure from President Joe Biden’s vicious Oct. 25 statement that death statistics from the Gaza Health Ministry can’t be trusted, and that the deaths of “innocents” is just “the price of waging war.”