President Joe Biden’s national security adviser, Jake Sullivan, said Wednesday that the United States is concerned about Israel’s growing diplomatic isolation among countries that have traditionally supported it.
Sullivan’s remarks came at a White House briefing after Ireland, Spain and Norway announced they would formally recognize a Palestinian state next week. They also come amid efforts by the Biden administration and Congress to coordinate a response to the International Criminal Court’s (ICC) decision to seek an arrest warrant for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu over Israel’s actions in Gaza. Ta.
Sullivan, who plans to visit Israel soon, responded in the affirmative when asked if he was concerned about Israel’s diplomatic isolation.
“I think that’s a valid question,” he said. “As a country that stands firmly in defense of Israel in international forums like the United Nations, we are certainly seeing a growing number of voices, including those that traditionally supported Israel, moving in the other direction. We are concerned because we do not believe that it will contribute to Israel’s long-term security or vitality…so we are discussing this with the Israeli government.”
Sullivan said the best way to deal with this is for Israel to pursue a strategy that defeats Hamas in the Gaza Strip while simultaneously protecting civilians and ensuring the delivery of humanitarian aid. At the same time, Israel must accept a two-state solution, which Netanyahu’s government fiercely opposes, as part of a regional settlement that would see Israel peacefully integrated with moderate Arab states.
But Sullivan was critical of moves by Ireland, Norway and Spain to recognise a Palestinian state, saying the goal could only be achieved through a negotiated agreement.
“President Biden has long supported a two-state solution. He has continued to emphasize that a two-state solution should be achieved through direct negotiations between the parties, not unilateral recognition,” he said. Stated.
“We believe that the only way to achieve a two-state solution that benefits both Israelis and Palestinians is through direct negotiations between the parties.”
Still, he criticized Israel’s decision to withhold funding to the Palestinian Authority in response to tripartite recognition, saying: “I think withholding funding is strategically wrong because it undermines stability in the West Bank. It undermines the Palestinian people’s pursuit of security and prosperity, which is Israel’s interest. And I think it’s wrong to withhold funds that provide basic goods and services to innocent people.”
Sullivan further elaborated on comments made by US Secretary of State Antony Blinken before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee on Tuesday, saying that the administration is considering enacting potential penalties against the ICC in response to the ICC’s move to arrest Prime Minister Netanyahu. He said he is ready to work with Congress to achieve this goal. .
“We are having bipartisan, bicameral discussions. [Capitol] “Mr Hill is considering all options as to how to respond to what the ICC has just done. No decisions have been made yet,” Sullivan said.
In addition to the arrest warrant for Netanyahu, ICC Prosecutor Karim Khan on Monday issued arrest warrants for Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant and three senior Hamas officials: Yahya Sinwar, Mohamed Deif, and Ismael Haniyeh. announced that they are also looking for
Biden denounced the move as “outrageous” and said it premised a false moral equivalency between Israel and Hamas, which is officially designated a terrorist organization by the United States, Britain and the European Union.
Republicans in the House and Senate are publicly debating bills for the ICC, of which the United States is not a member, but the court has supported some of its previous attempts to strengthen prosecutions, notably those against Russian President Vladimir Putin over his invasion of Ukraine.
When Hamas, which has ruled the Gaza Strip since 2007, launched a surprise attack on southern Israel on October 7 last year, about 1,200 Israelis, most of them civilians, were killed and 250 were kidnapped. Israel’s military response has killed around 36,000 Palestinians, mostly women and children.
