Not Unexpected: Biden-Harris Administration Refrains Saying Government Of The State Of Israel Should Pay For Destruction In Gaza Caused By The Israel Defense Forces (IDF). 

Reported 45% Of Housing Units In Gaza Have Been Destroyed By IDF Along With High Percentage Of Other Structures.

Why Should Any Taxpayer, Any Government, Any Organization Pay To Reconstruct Gaza When There Is Only One Entity Responsible For Its Destruction?

Use The US$200 Billion.

Tin Cup To Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Turkiye, United Arab Emirates?

United States Department of State
Washington DC
13 November 2023

Briefing Excerpt (emphasis added)

“QUESTION (Matthew Lee, Associated Press): Matt, can I just – when you talk about there’s no forcible displacement, is that what you’re saying?

MR MATTHEW MILLER (Spokesperson): Yeah, from Gaza. From Gaza. Again, I just made the point we understand that —

QUESTION: But you mean – so you’re – so the Israelis saying, basically, leave the north and go the south, or you’re basically probably going to get killed —

MR MILLER: There is —

QUESTION: – that is no forcible displacement from Gaza.

MR MILLER: There —

QUESTION: But you’re talking about out of Gaza?

MR MILLER: I’m talking about outside of – from Gaza out to Egypt or another third party – third country, yes.

QUESTION: Okay. So you’re okay with, like, all of the hundreds of thousands of people who were in the north of Gaza all being —

MR MILLER: I would say we support —

QUESTION: – pushed down into the south.

MR MILLER: – people inside Gaza —

QUESTION: Those are —

MR MILLER: – being moved out of harm’s way, absolutely.

QUESTION: Okay. And then when this over, you say they’re going to get to return?

MR MILLER: Israel has said that publicly.

QUESTION: Yeah. To what?

MR MILLER: There —

QUESTION: You said to their homes and to their neighborhoods.

MR MILLER: One of – so I will say that one of – so —

QUESTION: Their homes and their – do those homes and neighborhoods still exist?

MR MILLER: If you saw this – and I know you did see it because you were there. You saw what the Secretary said when we were in Tokyo. He said there must be a sustained mechanism for reconstruction in Gaza. Obviously, a lot of those homes have been destroyed.

QUESTION: Well, but – so they —

MR MILLER: And there has to be a mechanism for – to rebuild Gaza —

QUESTION: Yeah, okay. But so —

MR MILLER: – including those neighborhoods and those homes —

QUESTION: Yeah, but —

MR MILLER: — that have been destroyed so people can return to where they lived.

QUESTION: Yeah, but saying, oh, well, once this is all over, you can go back home – but there isn’t anything that’s going to be left for them to go back to.

MR MILLER: Yeah – obviously, Gaza is the location of a – an intense military campaign. When it’s over, we want to see reconstruction of Gaza.

QUESTION: All right. Paid for by?

MR MILLER: We will have conversations with partners in the region about that very question.

QUESTION: Including —

MR MILLER: I think it’s a little – I think it’s a little too early to say. We’re in the middle of the conflict right now. We’re just having – just start having conversations.

QUESTION: Fair – fair enough. But I mean, it’s not – okay, but it is not just as easy as saying, oh, okay, well, you’re being told to move south for your own protection, but after – but after that threat is over, then you can go back when you have nothing to go back to – and no one is going to be stepping up to pay for the reconstruction.”

Reuters (12 November 2023): “The United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA), quoting data from the Palestinian public works and housing department, said Israeli attacks had destroyed more than 41,000 housing units and damaged more than 222,000 housing units. In all, it said at least 45% of Gaza's housing units had reportedly been damaged or destroyed.  It was impossible to independently verify the numbers, but Reuters reporters in Gaza say the destruction is on a huge scale. An Israeli reporter who was taken to see the Gazan town of Beit Hanoun by the Israeli military reported on Sunday that "barely a single inhabitable building remains standing". More than 52,000 people had lived there before the war.  In a Nov. 10 report, OCHA said 279 educational facilities had reportedly been damaged, more than 51% of the total, with none of Gaza's 625,000 students able to access education.  It said more than half of Gaza's hospitals and nearly two-thirds of primary health care centres were out of service and 53 ambulances damaged. All 13 hospitals in Gaza City and northern Gaza have received evacuation orders from the Israeli military.  OCHA said water consumption has fallen by 90% since the war started. Two of the three water pipelines from Israel are functioning, however there is 50% leakage from the main pipeline between Rafah, on the Egyptian border, and the southern city of Khan Younis, where many refugees from the north have fled. Most of Gaza's 65 sewage pumps were out of service, OCHA said.” 

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10/15/23- Why Shouldn’t Israel Be Held To “You Break It, You Own It” Pottery Barn Rule For Destruction Of Gaza? US, EU Say Russia Should Pay To Rebuild Ukraine. Israel Has US$200 Billion In Foreign Reserves.

אתה הורס אותו, אתה הבעלים שלו

אתה שובר את זה, אתה הבעלים של זה

Why Shouldn’t Israel Be Subjected To The “You Break It, You Own It” Pottery Barn Rule For The Destruction Of Gaza? 

How To Judge When Much Of The Destruction Is Courtesy Of Military Equipment Provided To The IDF By The Taxpayers Of The United States?

United Nations (UN) Estimates US$5 Billion In Damage To Gaza Infrastructure From Israel-Hamas Conflicts In 2008-09, 2012, 2014, 2021, And Thus Far In 2023.

From Israel’s Perspective, It Was Forced To Defend Itself- And Issues Of Disproportionality Are Immaterial.

If Governments Believe Russian Federation Should Pay For The Destruction Of Ukraine, And Israel Is Legally Responsible To Care For Gaza, Then Why Should Taxpayers Other Than Those In Israel Rebuild Gaza?

Fair To United States Taxpayers They Provide Funds For Infrastructure In Gaza Only To Have IDF Destroy It- And Then Israel Wants United States Taxpayers To Borrow Further To Replace It?

Israel Has Approximately US$200 Billion In Foreign Reserves.  18th Largest In The World.  With US$522 Billion, Ranks 29th Of 193 Countries Globally By Gross Domestic Product (GDP).

Why Does Israel Need United States Taxpayers To Borrow US$3.8 Billion Annually For “Aid” To Israel?  FYI- Israel In 2009 Wanted US$5 Billion Annually.

Surprised Who Said This? “On the other hand, the fact is, is that if the people of Gaza have no hope, if they can’t even get clean water at this point, if the border closures are so tight that it is impossible for reconstruction and humanitarian efforts to take place, then that is not going to be a recipe for Israel’s long-term security or a constructive peace track to move forward.”  

The phrase “you break it, you own it” is every parent’s nightmare when bringing a young child to a location with fragile, breakable, and particularly expensive objects.  In more recent decades, the “china shop rule” transformed into the “Pottery Barn Rule” to the dismay of the San Francisco, California-based company with 2022 revenues of US$3.556 billion.

Since 24 February 2022, the government of Ukraine has maintained the government of the Russian Federation is subject to the Pottery Barn Rule for the destruction of civilian infrastructure inflicted by the armed forces of the Russian Federation throughout the internationally-recognized boundaries of Ukraine.

• On 24 February 2022, the armed forces of the Russian Federation invaded and further invaded the territory of Ukraine in what Vladimir Putin, President of the Russian Federation (2000-2008 and 2012- ), defined as a Special Military Operation [SMO] then on 22 December 2022 he redefined as a war.  The initial invasion of Ukraine by the armed forces of the Russian Federation was in part from the territory of Belarus.   

• The war between the Russian Federation and Ukraine did not commence on 24 February 2022.  The roots began their trajectories on 20 February 2014 when the armed forces of the Russian Federation invaded the Crimean Peninsula and the area known as the Donbas Region (Donetsk Oblast and Luhansk Oblast).

The government of Ukraine believes that approximately US$320 billion in Central Bank of the Russian Federation funds frozen since 24 February 2022 by the government of the United States, some of the twenty-seven member governments of the Brussels, Belgium-based European Union (EU), and other governments should have a singular purpose- be directed to rebuild Ukraine.  Thus, what would be to date the most expensive Pottery Barn Rule reimbursement in history.

Only during the last months has the Biden-Harris Administration (2021- ) and EU leadership gravitated away from advocating for additional taxpayer borrowing by their respective constituencies and toward invading the US$320 billion.

• During the last nineteen months, United States taxpayers have borrowed approximately US$150 billion relating to Ukraine.  The Biden-Harris Administration will request an additional US$96 billion for use during the remainder of 2023 and for throughout 2024. 

The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) continue to destroy civilian infrastructure in Gaza- residences, apartment buildings, educational institutions, clinics, hospitals, pharmacies, commercial buildings, manufacturing facilities, and transportation stations.  This along with electrical power generation facilities, water treatment plants, and cellular towers.  

“I think the humanitarian situation in Gaza has to be addressed.  Now, I was along the border in Sderot and saw the evidence of weapons that had been raining down on the heads of innocents in those Israeli cities, and that’s unacceptable.  So, we’ve got to work with the Egyptians to deal with the smuggling of weapons and it has to be meaningful because no Prime Minister of any country is going to tolerate missiles raining down on their citizens’ heads.  On the other hand, the fact is, is that if the people of Gaza have no hope, if they can’t even get clean water at this point, if the border closures are so tight that it is impossible for reconstruction and humanitarian efforts to take place, then that is not going to be a recipe for Israel’s long-term security or a constructive peace track to move forward.”

• Benjamin Netanyahu, Prime Minister of the State of Israel, at The White House in Washington DC (18 May 2009)

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