Biden pushed for Gaza pier despite warnings, regulator says
Fox News contributor General Keith Kellogg examines the latest headlines about tensions in the Middle East and reacts to former President Trump’s visit to Arlington National Cemetery to mark the third anniversary of the Afghanistan withdrawal.
The Office of the Inspector General of the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) has released a report showing that there were disagreements between “several” agency officials and the Biden administration over its decision to build a humanitarian pier off the coast of Gaza.
The office released the report on Tuesday, saying that “several USAID staff” initially expressed concern that the pier’s establishment might undermine broader efforts to persuade Israel to open “more efficient” land corridors that were “proven methods” for transporting aid. But the report noted that “after the President issued the directive, the agency’s focus was on using (the pier) as effectively as possible.”
Construction of the $230 million pier came at a time when the U.S. was under pressure from critics to send aid to the people of Gaza, fearing looming famine. Although the aid was delivered by air, President Biden wanted to increase support by greenlighting the pier project. It was a joint effort between Biden’s Department of Defense (DOD) and the U.S. Agency for International Development, which is tasked with distributing foreign aid for the federal government.
But after about a week of operation, the pier began to experience problems. High winds and rough seas caused the pier to repeatedly break apart, and officials distributing relief supplies were faced with hostile actors seeking to loot the incoming supplies. Ultimately, the pier operated for another 20 days before being closed on July 17.
BIDEN’S $230 MILLION GAZA PIER IS QUIETLY CLOSED; US SENATOR LAUNCHES PROJECT A ‘NATIONAL EMBARRASSMENT’
This picture shows the floating pier after it was damaged by rough weather in May. (Dawoud Abo Alkas/Anadolu via Getty Images)
Even before the pier opened, critics feared there were more efficient and cheaper alternatives to airdrops and the pier. Meanwhile, Republicans criticized the pier’s construction as an attempt by Biden to win back the support of his progressive base.
“I think he’s afraid of losing Michigan in November, so he wants to appeal to Muslim-American voters, especially in Michigan.” Representative Pat Fallon, Republican, Texasa member of the House Armed Services Committee, told Fox News Digital in March, the same month Biden announced plans for the pier. Meanwhile, other Republican critics sharply criticized the move for putting American troops at risk.
Anti-Israel protesters march near the United Center in Chicago during the recent Democratic National Convention. (Fox News Digital/File)
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Fox News Digital reached out to USAID for comment but did not receive a response.
A spokesman for Biden’s National Security Council, Sean Savett, told Fox News Digital on Wednesday that the makeshift pier – for all its shortcomings – “has had a real impact” and is “part of a comprehensive response to the dire humanitarian situation in northern Gaza.”
Savett noted that before the pier closed, it delivered around 20 million pounds of food and water that would otherwise not have reached the war zone. He stressed that this was “the largest amount of humanitarian aid the Department of Defense has ever been able to deliver to the Middle East.”
“We said from the beginning that this was not going to be easy,” Savett said. “We were honest and transparent about the challenges. But the bottom line is that given the dire humanitarian situation in Gaza, the United States has left no stone unturned to get more aid there, and the pier has played a key role in achieving that goal at a critical time.”
