Father of killed World Central Kitchen worker tells Blinken US should suspend aid to Israel

When the US’s top diplomat called with condolences over the killing of John Flickinger’s son in the Israeli airstrikes on a World Central Kitchen aid convoy in Gaza, Flickinger knew what he wanted to say.

The grieving father told Antony Blinken, the US secretary of state, that the killings by Israel in the Hamas-run territory must end – and that the United States needs to use its power and leverage over its closest Middle East ally to make that happen.

Flickinger’s 33-year-old son, Jacob Flickinger, a dual US and Canadian citizen, was among the seven humanitarian workers killed in the 1 April drone strikes.

“If the United States threatened to suspend aid to Israel, maybe my son would be alive today,” John Flickinger told the Associated Press in describing his 30-minute conversation on Saturday with Blinken.

Flickinger said Blinken did not pledge any new policy actions but said the Joe Biden White House had sent a strong message to Benjamin Netanyahu, Israel’s prime minister, that the relationship between the United States and Israel may change if the Israel Defense Forces do not show more care for the fate of civilians in Gaza.

“I’m hopeful that this is the last straw, that the United States will suspend aid and will take meaningful action to leverage change in the way Israel is conducting this war,” John Flickinger said.

Flickinger said Blinken also spoke with his son’s partner, Sandy Leclerc, who is left to care for their one-year-old son, Jasper.

In addition to Jacob Flickinger, three British nationals, an Australian, a Polish national and a Palestinian were killed in the strikes.

John Flickinger described his son as “larger than life,” a “loving son, a devoted dad and new father and a very loving companion to his life