Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has made no secret of his feelings towards President Biden after Donald Trump was elected this month, making it publicly clear that he ignored the current US president's advice and threatened to withhold aid. .
Prime Minister Netanyahu told the Israeli parliament on Monday that “the United States has reservations and has proposed not to enter Gaza.''
He said the United States also balked at Israel's plans to enter Gaza City, “strongly opposes any entry into Rafah” and threatened to force Israel to fight without American aid.
“President Biden told me that if we intervene, we will be left alone,” Netanyahu said. “He also said he would stop shipping critical weapons to us, which he did. A few days later, [U.S. Secretary of State Antony] Blinken came out and repeated it, and I told him: We're going to fight claw-to-nail. ”
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Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu made no secret of his feelings after President Donald Trump's re-election, making it publicly clear that he ignored President Biden's advice and threatened to withhold aid. (Getty Images)
The United States ultimately withheld one shipment of 2,000-pound bombs and allowed all other weapons shipments to continue.
“I believe that if they enter Rafah, they have not entered Rafah yet, but even if they enter Rafah, I will deal with the city to deal with Rafah. We've made it clear that we won't supply weapons that have been historically used for military purposes. We have to address that issue,” Biden told CNN's Erin Burnett in an interview at the time.
The move sparked a backlash from Israel supporters in Congress, and Biden ultimately moved forward with the shipment.
Prime Minister Netanyahu also claimed that the United States does not want Israel to respond to Iran's missile attack on Tel Aviv in October.
“My friend also told me I didn’t have to respond, and I said I couldn’t sit back and not respond, so I responded.”
He acknowledged that Israel attacked Iran's nuclear facilities in response.
“It's not a secret, it's public,” Prime Minister Netanyahu said. “There are certain elements of their nuclear program that were attacked in this attack.”
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Prime Minister Netanyahu stressed the importance of Israel making its own decisions.
“We must protect Israel's independence. We decided to move in and occupy Rafah, the Philadelphia Corridor and the Rafah Crossroads.”
Prime Minister Netanyahu immediately congratulated President Trump after his victory in the Nov. 5 presidential election, which he deemed “the greatest reversal in history.”
At Monday's Knesset meeting, Prime Minister Netanyahu said he would work with President Trump on how to move forward in the fight against Iran through its proxies, ballistic missiles and nuclear program.
Prime Minister Netanyahu was quick to congratulate President Trump following his victory in the Nov. 5 presidential election, which he deemed “the greatest comeback in history.” (Amos Ben Gershom (GPO)/Handout/Anadolu, via Getty Images)
Smoke rises over the southern outskirts of Beirut after an Israeli military attack, seen from Baabda, Lebanon, November 14, 2024. (Reuters/Tayyer Al Sudani)
“Our ability to act against these three threats will be evaluated with the next administration in Washington in the near future,” he said.
The Biden administration is working to secure a ceasefire in Lebanon in its final months in office. Biden's Middle East envoy, Amos Hochstein, suggested a peace deal was “within our reach.”
“This is a time for decision-making. I am here in Beirut to facilitate that decision, but ultimately it is the decision of the parties that will conclude this conflict. It is now within our grasp. “It's within,” he said.
But Netanyahu struck a different tone, suggesting his country would continue attacking Hezbollah even if a ceasefire was reached “on paper.”
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“The most important thing is not [the deal that] It will be written on paper,” Prime Minister Netanyahu said. [setting out an agreement]That may be valuable, but it requires us to carry out planned operations to ensure security in the north, not just against possible Hezbollah attacks. It will be done. Even if a ceasefire is reached, no one can guarantee that it will be maintained. So it's not just our response, our preventive response, our post-attack response, but also our ability to stop Hezbollah from strengthening. ”
“We will not allow Hezbollah to return to the status quo of October 6, 2023.”
