Washington – Three U.S. Navy amphibious warships are returning to the eastern Mediterranean to remain on standby in the event they are needed to assist Americans leaving Israel in the coming days, according to two U.S. officials.
Subscribe to our Daily Roundup Email
The officials stressed an evacuation remains an extremely remote possibility and the Obama administration is not currently planning for one. Americans who wish to leave the region now are able to do so using commercial airlines.
But the decision to send the ships even if the event is such a remote contingency underscores the growing concern about where the Israel-Gaza conflict could be headed.
“This is due diligence. It is better to be prepared should there be a need,” one official said Monday. Both officials said the ships would be used only for assisting Americans and not for any combat role.
The most immediate impact will be on the ships’ crews and the estimated 2,500 Marines on board. They had been scheduled to return to Norfolk, Virginia, just after Thanksgiving; their homecoming will now be delayed several days depending on events, the officials said.
The ships involved are the USS Iwo Jima, the USS New York and the USS Gunston Hall. At the end of last week the ships were west of Gibraltar, before the decision was made to turn them around and send them back to the eastern Mediterranean, where they will remain for now.
The U.S. military also maintains three to four ships off the coast of Israel that are capable of shooting down ballistic missiles. That deployment has stretch for some months in the face of a potential ballistic threat from Iran.
What about the other few million jews who aren’t US citizens?
Askunim should come up with a plan of how to help them flee
Why would anyone flee? They are there to spy like in 1967 with the USS Liberty that Israel attacked.
eretz yisroel is the safe’ist place on earth… did we forget what happen in the gulf war?
the Lubavicher Rebbe promised and gave his personal responsabily to the parents of the soldiers and the civileans that NOTHING will happen!!
because the eibeshter promises that its the safe’st place!
einei hashem elokecho bo merishis hashono Ect.
all we need is betochon
2,500 Marines?
Lets send them into gaza and see how tough they are.
I think the idea is to rescue US aid workers and journalists in Gaza who want to leave if there is an especially nasty ground war there. Right now the Israeli-Gaza border is open, but it might close even to Americans who need a hospital.
Truly, this is the time to stand together, daven together, and have bitachon together. Hashem wants his children to be one unit.
And exactly how many Americans living in Israel WOULD leave?
To #11 None that I know of.