Israel-Gaza battle: IDF fires officers thinking about World Central kitchen attack | LiveNOW from FOX

And I do want to get to the latest developing news here out of the Middle East as the Israel Defense Forces has released details of its investigation into the deaths of seven workers with World Central Kitchen Monday as they were transporting humanitarian aid over to the Gaza Strip the investigation's findings indicating the IDF says the.

Incident should never have occurred and those who approved the strike were convinced that they were targeting armed Hamas operatives not wck employees the strike on the a Vehicles a grave mistake stemming from a serious failure to a mistaken identification errors in decision making and an attack contrary to the standard operating procedures now.

We do know the Brigade fire support commander and Brigade Chief of Staff will be dismissed from their positions While others including the commander of the Southern command will be formally reprimanded I want to talk about this and all the latest developments let's bring in Javad Ali associate professor of practice at the Gerald R Ford School.

Of public policy at the University of Michigan thank you so much as always for taking the time to join us and help break this down Josh I good to be with you thank you all right well first off I just want to ask you this report from the IDF coming out a short time ago what stood out to you about that report and the findings so the report that's just.

Been released over the past 24 hours is pretty striking in the level of detail that it revealed about the Tactical and operational mistakes or missteps that were made the deviations from standing uh operating procedure or Rules of Engagement um the misidentification of the Drone operator.

Apparently of uh an individual um in one of the cars in the um wck Convoy that they thought that um person was holding a weapon and they actually weren't they were holding a bag so just a series of these cascading ER errors that happened in a relatively short amount of time and was also at night that I think also complicated things but.

Then it wasn't just one single strike it was a pattern of three successive strikes over probably a few minutes as the cars were trying to get out of this fire zone and um it's in my recollection it's not I don't think we've ever seen this level of detail from the IDF in terms of um recounting mistakes that were made and also holding people.

Accountable that's the thing that also seems very different to me that um they have very publicly said uh the Israeli military has publicly said that um people have been removed from their jobs um and that probably means their careers are over U whether they face any criminal prosecution we don't know that as well so this uh in addition to.

Helping the world understand what happened the accountability measures that apparently have taken place this seems to be very very different from what we've seen uh in the past and so the founder of world Central Kitchen as well as several countries including Australia and uh We've also seen folks over in the US calling for this they.

Want an independent investigation into you know what happened here is that likely to happen is it likely to be an independent investigation after we were these findings from the IDF in their investigation well it'll be hard for any kind of outside body to to conduct a really detailed forensic and tactical investigation because you need to be on.

The ground in order to understand that and you have you need to have access to all the information and intelligence that the IDF had and the the moments um before the strike and while the strike was happening and that would have to be with the consent of the Israeli government so there's only so much an independent outside investigative body.

Could do and I would think from the Israeli side um they're whether they push back on it or not they're going to say look we've we're trying to reveal to the world what happened we have acknowledged this was a terrible terrible mistake we are trying to hold people accountable we're also in the middle of fighting a war so I just.

Don't know how successful an independent commission or body would be um now maybe that'll happen at some point in the future in some postconflict scenario but I don't think it's very likely to happen anytime soon we've talked a lot over the past uh I would say 12 hours about that tense conversation between President Biden and.

Israel's prime minister we know that netanyahu's office and the White House did announce immediate steps to improve the flow of Aid into Gaza Israel saying that it's temporarily opening some of these ports for delivery uh these Crossings here what do we know about all of that and how significant of a move is that well in the aftermath of the strike.

Against the wck Convoy this seems to be one of the the consequences in a in a good way and and not to make light of what happened in the Convoy again that was a terrible terrible tragedy but um that based on the pressure that has been mounting against Israel to um increase the efforts to relieve the humanitarian suffering on the ground that the opening.

Of the arz port Crossing in Northern Gaza that's one thing um that apparently is going to take place and another border crossing in Southeastern Israel with the border of Jordan so um but then once even though you have these border crossings you still have to get the aid in there and Israel is going to inspect that Aid as well and make sure it's not.

Being funneled to Hamas or there aren't weapons or other equipment that would go uh to Hamas so it's going to take time to implement um these Aid um flows through these new um Crossings but I think from the Israeli government side given the pressure they're facing internationally um and whatever the the tone of that.

Conversation was with the white house uh yesterday that this is probably the first of several other steps Israel is going to take to try to get in front of that pressure as they're still trying to execute their military campaign against Tomas do you think if not for that conversation between Biden and Netanyahu that these Crossings would be reopened.

Here yeah I think absent the the the tragedy with the world Central Kitchen strike I don't think we would see uh these these developments on the humanitarian side with the opening or reopenings of these border crossings um and uh there are a lot of people who are frustrated by that because they would say that well um even though you know.

These seven eight workers died under terrible circumstances that what about the other 33,000 Palestinian civilians who died and um and everyone who's been injured and displaced and what would it what would it have taken for for more a to come in that way so um again it's I think the the the tragedy from this week was the Tipping Point at least for these.

Border crossing openings and I but I also think there will be other things that happen as well in your experience and what you've seen is there anything further that you can think of that the IDF could be doing to Pro uh protect civilian casualties to prevent them but also the deaths of Aid workers who are trying to deliver that.

Humanitarian Aid to Gaza yeah this really comes down to Rules of Engagement making them crystal clear to the operating forces that actually are would be in the um you know have to execute uh military uh operations and and and have a tighter level of legal review before strikes happen that is the the system the US has built in overseas counter ter.

Does it mean that the US hasn't made mistakes as well but again there is a there is a fairly robust level of oversight and review um and and legal scrutiny on strikes um that at least you when you have time to before you take some action and this was one of those circumstances where they had time to think it through as opposed to a.

Firefight between Hamas and IDF forces and it's a very Dynamic situation on the ground this wasn't that so I would like to think that the IDF would would try to put more focus on that and based on the accountability um actions that have taken place that the IDF has said that the Drone operators the the commanders who are overseeing that mission they.

Failed to live up to the standards that the IDF had put in place so in order to prevent it again it just has to be more um sort of pushed down uh within the the military and within uh the the forces within the IDF and hopefully we won't see another one of these mistakes again but again it's it's War it's Dynamic um it may happen again but hopefully it.

Won't and if Israel doesn't live up to let's say the expectations of the US what could potentially change about us assistance to Israel as it relates to let's say military and economic aid yeah and this is the ultimate leverage that the US has had but up until now this is the one thing that the the the Administration has said they are not.

Going to change the parameters of that military aid or or economic uh assistance even though they're members of Congress who are are trying to push for a change in that so again if Congress comes up with a bill that that makes that happen that would be different but right now there doesn't seem to be um you know any draft.

Legislation on on the table or in conference or in a committee but still um if if we see another one of these um terrible tragedies to Aid workers that might be a Tipping Point for where even absent Congressional legislation where the White House actually directs DOD to sort of pull back on the flow of military um support and Aid that um goes.

To Israel but if they did that that not only would have consequences on the ground for Israel's fighting against some us but I also think it would be a domestic political issue here as well and that's something the White House is going to have to think through just how will that move if they choose to make it in terms of pulling back on some aspect.

Of US Military Support n to Israel how would it affect domestic politics and as we're heading into an election year you know how much is that going to change people's perceptions of the administration so really complicated issue that um that hasn't been made yet but again I think there there's consider or there will be consideration of it if.

We see another one of these um tragedies like we saw this week and I I do want to dig a little deeper into that because if the US were to withdraw any of its support for Israel whether it's selling arms providing military economic aid can Israel beat Hamas can they defeat Hamas without any sort of assistance from the US well the the campaign I mean it's.

Hard to know how much progress Israel has made and their um at least two of their three objectives I they clearly haven't recovered the remainder of the hostages about 120 130 left but the other two objectives and killing or capturing the senior leadership of Hamas who was responsible for October 7th and destroying the infrastructure of.

Terrorism that allowed Hamas to commit October 7th and also uh you know pose a threat to Israel for decades it nobody knows outside of the IDF where that where the progress is on that front so are they only halfway through 2third of the way through 75% or is that P is that needle even further back on that Spectrum so if it's further back one.

Would think that they are going to continue to need us support to prosecute you know those first two objectives in their military campaign and if the if the US support slows down it would probably be tougher I mean Israel I'm sure can can do this for for months um on their own if if the support 1 to zero but I don't think that's going to happen.

Either and I think a good analogy for your listeners to think about is sort of the the fight between Russia in Ukraine where Ukraine now was sort of on its back foot and really needs us support to continue uh its operations against Russia but um a lot of that the next tranch next big tranch of US Military Support to Ukraine is being held up in.

Congress and the ukrainians have said time and time again they're really pretty much on their last stock of ammunition and artillery and drones and so until they backfill those with other suppliers that they're in a really precarious situation I don't think Israel is there yet but again six months from now a year from now and again if.

The US Aid rise up or slows down then that might be a different conversation about Israel's capability to go It Alone my last question here before I let you go I want to talk a little bit about Iran because we know several days ago that there was that strike over in Syria uh that did kill a top Commander there for Iran my question for you we know.

That Iran has threatened pretty severely Israel uh for retaliation here so my question how seriously does Israel take a threat from Iran so that was a very dramatic uh event uh going back to earlier this week with the strike in Damascus that killed next to the um Iranian facility next to the Irani Embassy that killed uh three senior.

Generals in the irgc ks Force which is the ks force is Iran's unconventional warfare wing and the ks force is the is the element within the Iranian security establishment that is supported all of Iran's proxies and partners in the Middle East um and and other uh parts of the region for decades to include Hamas Islamic Jihad hasbalah and Lebanon so.

The three generals who were struck were uh basically managing that portfolio for the ks force and that's why I have to believe that Israel um launched that during raid to to Target them there had never before been three senior KS force uh officer or generals General officers killed by by any country whether Israel or even the United States so this was a.

Dramatic escalation on Israel side and I think it shows that how serious they take the threat from Iran and and the the threat that all these proxies and partners now posed to Israel enabled by that Iranian support but with that said I do think the Iranians are going to be forced to retaliate uh and how they do that will.

It'll be driven by their perception of what's proportional to the attack that they suffered um what kind of capability do they have to pull off what they would believe is a proportional attack um where would that attack be would it be within Israel would it be against Israeli interests in the region would they also try to threaten the United.

States or attack the United States because they're they they have perceived the US to to be militarily supporting Israel so these are all the questions that are on the table but I think Iran will respond and Iran responded in January 2020 when the US killed kasum solomani the previous leader of the ks Force so um I don't think we should be.

Surprised to hear that Iranian will attempt to respond or will respond but when it will happen and where it will happen and what it will look like nobody really knows the answer to that yeah a lot of questions here thank you so much as always for taking the time to join us and help break all of this down for us anything else you want to add Before I.

Let You Go no really volatile situation again the the strike in Damascus added another layer of complexity to this and then the the tragedy um with the world Central Kitchen has now moved us policy in a different direction and and hopefully we'll see some um relief to the humanitarian crisis on the ground with the the opening of these border um.

Uh Crossings but there's still a number of um diplomatic and political issues that have to be sorted out um President Biden is facing a lot of pressure here uh inside the US same thing with prime minister Netanyahu and Israel so um we're going to continue to see the es and flows in this in the coming days and weeks all right Javad Ali there.

Associate professor appr practice University of Michigan thank you so much as always for being here with us to break down those latest head L we appreciate it thank you Josh

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