In the wake of the deadly World Central Kitchen (WCK) drone attack, some conservative critics have accused Jose Andres of being a so-called anti-Israel “radical.” On April 1, an Israeli Defense Force (IDF) airstrike in the Gaza Strip killed seven WCK aid workers. The workers were from Australia, Poland, the United Kingdom, dual U.S. and Canadian citizenship, and from Palestine.
Andres is the founder of WCK, a nonprofit organization that provides fresh meals in response to humanitarian, climate, and community crises, according to its official website.
In response to the attack, Daily Wire host Ben Shapiro said, took me to X (the platform formerly known as Twitter) accused Andres of “blood libel.”
“World Central Kitchen is doing a good job, but this is a bloody libel that is not supported by logic or evidence,” Shapiro wrote in the post. “Andres has also been accusing Israel of targeting civilians and hospitals on Twitter for months, and called for a ceasefire on October 13, less than a week after October 7.”
Mr. Shapiro also called Mr. Andres a “political radical” on a recent episode of his eponymous conservative talk show. These two things are not particularly contradictory. You can do good things or you can do bad things. Life is full of such things. ” Shapiro suggested that accusing Israel of promoting “a war against humanity itself” is an “incredibly egregious proposition.”
David Harsanyi of the Federalist Party also accused Andres of “blood libel,” saying, “Many Democrats believe that Joe Biden is cynically trying to appease the (irresolvable) pro-Hamas faction within the Democratic Party.” They are also trying to spread this bloody libel.” Harsani criticized Andres' New York Times op-ed calling for Israel to open more land routes for food and medicine to Gaza, calling it “self-aggrandizement.”
Similarly, Newsmax TV host Greg Kelly called Andres a “swamp favorite” and claimed that his “attitude and attention-seeking attitude may have led to the WCK worker's death.” Kelly attacked Andres' character on another episode of his show, The Greg Kelly Report, saying the chef was “not a very nice person, yelling and screaming at people all over the place.” he claimed. Kelly also said that WCK was an “interesting concept” but “needs to be disbanded immediately.” He previously said the organization had gone “too far” and that “maybe it's time for it to disappear.”
Other conservative critics attacked Mr. Andres for calling for a ceasefire, saying he was influenced by “pressure from radical anti-Israel activists.” “Who does Andres think he is…?” …He is a gourmet who serves food. [non-kosher food]'' Matthew Continetti, director of domestic policy research at the American Enterprise Institute, wrote in the Washington Free Beacon. Similarly, Newsmax TV host Christopher Plante accused Andres of “providing gourmet meals to terrorists.”
“So why not feed the Russian military attacking Ukraine inside Russia?” Plante said. “You know, they're the bad guys in this, where they're saying, 'Oh, we're so great.' We need food for Hamas, so we're feeding them. is.”
After the attack, Andres said in an online statement that he was “heartbroken and saddened,” adding: “These are people…angels…I served with them in Ukraine, Gaza, Turkey, Morocco, the Bahamas and Indonesia. They are not faceless…they are not nameless.”
“The Israeli government needs to stop this indiscriminate killing,” his post continued. “We need to stop restricting humanitarian aid, stop killing civilians and aid workers, and stop using food as a weapon. No more innocent lives can be lost. Peace is what we need. It starts with shared humanity, and it has to start now.”
In addition to his plea in the New York Times, Andres told ABC News in an exclusive interview that the bombing was “unforgivable” and something he “will have to live with” for the rest of his life. He noted that Israel is engaged in a “war against humanity itself,” which has been going on for six months, “targeting everything that moves.”
“It doesn’t seem like that. [like] It's a war on terrorism,” Andres said. “This no longer seems like a war to defend Israel. At this point, it really seems like this [like] It is a war against humanity itself. ”
The comment prompted a backlash from the White House, which argued that the changes were necessary to prevent a similar “operation” from happening again. “Several changes are needed in the way the Israel Defense Forces conduct these operations in Gaza to ensure that something like this never happens again,” said John Kirby, the White House national security communications adviser. “We will,” White House National Security and Communications Advisor John Kirby said on the April 7 broadcast. ABC's “This Week.”
“The conflict resolution process between aid workers on the ground and IDF headquarters needs to change to ensure this type of targeting never happens again.”
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Joe Biden, in an April 2 statement, accused Israel of “not doing enough” to protect aid workers who are trying to deliver “much-needed aid” to civilians. The president added that he had repeatedly called on Israel to “avoid a conflict between military and humanitarian operations against Hamas to avoid civilian casualties.”
Kirby declined to comment on the consequences the United States might impose if Israel fails to live up to its commitments to increase humanitarian aid and reduce violence against civilians in the Gaza Strip.
“We need to take our time and make decisions. “We need to see whether we actually deliver on these promises over time in a meaningful and verifiable way,” he said. He said.
Asked if he would rule out slowing or pausing arms transfers to Israel, Kirby said: “I'm not in a position to make any decisions today.”
“All I can say is, as the president made clear to Prime Minister Netanyahu, we need to see some change in the way they conduct these operations or else we have to think about changing the way we do things ourselves. “That's the policy toward Gaza.” ”
On Wednesday, WCK announced that another volunteer was injured in an IDF airstrike on April 1, separate from the attack that occurred just 15 minutes later. WCK announced that a Palestinian staff member named Amro was “seriously injured” in the alleged fatal airstrike at the al-Bashir Mosque in Deir al-Balah. Both airstrikes on April 1st took place within a few miles of each other.
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