Former Obama aides slam Biden over response to Gaza airstrike that 'makes him look weak': Speechwriter says Joe doesn't 'deserve credit' being 'privately enraged' when he 'refuses' to stop Israel killing civilians
- Former Obama speechwriter Jon Favreau ridiculed stores of Biden being 'privately enraged'
- Former Obama spokesman for national security Tommy Vietor urged the administration to 'demand accountability'
- Former Obama campaign chief David Axelrod said the bombed aid convoy should be a 'bright red line.'
Former aides to former President Barack Obama signaled disgust Wednesday with details about President Joe Biden being privately angry behind the scenes about an airstrike that killed aid workers in Gaza.
'The President doesn't get credit for being "privately enraged" when he still refuses to use leverage to stop the IDF from killing and starving innocent people,' wrote former Obama speechwriter Jon Favreau wrote on X. 'These stories only make him look weak.'
Favreau reacted Wednesday to a story from Politico noting that Biden was 'privately enraged' by the deadly strike from Israel against a World Central Kitchen convoy delivering food to victims of the war in Gaza. Seven aid workers were killed in the bombing, including an American citizen.
Pod Save America host and former Obama speechwriter Jon Favreau said Biden 'looked weak'
People stand near a destroyed car of the NGO World Central Kitchen (WCK)
Biden was delayed in publicly condemning the attack on the World Central Kitchen Convoy, several hours after they occurred.
Other Obama alumni have increasingly voiced their frustration with Biden for unilaterally siding with Israel, without making concrete demands from Israeli Prime Minster Netanyahu.
'I'm glad that US officials are outraged about the IDF massacre of World Central Kitchen workers (at least on background), but there have to be consequences for it to matter,' former national security spokesman Tommy Vietor wrote on X. 'Demand accountability and more aid trucks into Gaza. Stop transferring weapons.'
The Biden administration is currently weighing an $18 billion arms transfer package to Israel that would include dozens of F-15 aircraft, according to reports.
Vietor previously criticized Biden for flying to Israel and giving the Israeli Prime Minster Bibi Netanyahu a hug on the tarmac to show his solidarity with Israel, calling it 'a mistake from the beginning.'
'To date, they've had this approach that's called "The hug Bibi strategy," where basically Biden says he'll disagree with Netanyahu privately but don't want to show any daylight in terms of public messaging,' Vietor said on the Pod Save America podcast in February.
'Stop transferring weapons,' wrote Obama's former national security spokesman Tommy Vietor
Former Obama campaign chief David Axelrod said the strike should be a 'bright red line'
Former Obama campaign chief David Axelrod did not name Biden officially but called the bombing of the aid convoy a 'bright red line.'
'Israel has the right to defend itself against barbaric acts of terrorism, not to indiscriminately kill innocents or valiant men and women who are working to save them from starvation,' he wrote on X.
Tuesday evening, Biden issued a statement several hours after the strikes against the food charity founded by chef Jose Andres noting he was 'outraged and heartbroken' by the news.
A senior American official expressed concerns to Politico about Biden's unwillingness to challenge Israel more directly.
'It’s just rinse and repeat with the Israelis. The American political system can’t or won’t draw a real line with them and that is regrettable,' he said anonymously.
