(Radio Iowa) – The Pentagon is moving an aircraft carrier strike group, as well as squadrons of fighter jets, closer to Israel following the weekend terrorist attacks, but Iowa Senator Chuck Grassley doubts the U-S will dispatch soldiers directly into Israel — and into harm’s way. “Israel does not want American troops on the ground,” Grassley says. “Israel has the capability of handling this situation, but I think if Israel would cry out to us that they need some help, they would get that help. I think it would be probably help other than troops on the ground.”

Saturday’s attacks by Hamas left a thousand “innocent civilians” dead, according to Grassley, along with at least 11 Americans. The Republican notes how one American media outlet had four sources linking the attacks to Iran, in addition to Hamas leaders thanking Iran for the backing, but Iran’s leaders deny any involvement. “I don’t believe what Iran is saying,” Grassley says, “and I believe the administration ought to be more candid with the people. Instead of saying they have no evidence of any Iranian connection with what happened, they at least could say, ‘We’re going to investigate and see what the sources are.'”

The attacks are a “sobering wake-up call to the world” and to America, Grassley says, as “state-sponsored terrorist groups want to wipe the Jewish people off the face of the earth.” “We in the United States stand strong with Israel, because Israel is our most trusted ally in the Middle East,” Grassley says. “We also stand with our Jewish American friends here at home. These atrocities will not be tolerated.”

He calls the attacks on Israel a threat to the entire Middle East. A group called the Party for Socialism and Liberation is organizing an event in downtown Des Moines at 6:30 tonight (Tuesday) which it’s calling a Rally for a Free Palestine. A statement from the group says, “The unrelenting oppression, murder, torture and occupation carried out by the Israeli apartheid regime has precipitated a counter-offensive by Palestinian resistance forces. Their actions are a morally and legally legitimate response to escalating Israeli oppression.”