Israel’s Defense in the Mideast: Reports of a High-Energy War in the War-Breaking Middle East
The Israeli military said it fired a missile at a “suspicious air target” over the Red Sea on Thursday, which prompted air raid sirens in the south of the country. The Houthis have launched drones and missiles toward Israel that mostly fell short or were intercepted and shot down.
The war has rippled across the Middle East, with Iranian-backed groups attacking U.S. and Israeli targets. Low-intensity fighting between Israel and Hezbollah in Lebanon could lead to full-out war, and the rebels in Yemen are still targeting international shipping despite a US-led air campaign.
The Israeli army said on Thursday it had destroyed the “heart” of Hamas’ weapons manufacturing industry in central Gaza. The complex included weapons factories as well as a tunnel network that was used to ship arms to Gaza.
Israel has continued to hit militant targets in all areas of Gaza, sometimes killing women and children. Medics said an Israeli airstrike killed at least 17 people, half of them children, in the southern Gaza town of Rafah.
Hundreds of thousands of people have complied with Israeli orders to leave the Gaza Strip, and massive tent camps have gone up in southern Gaza.
The families of hostages and their supporters have called for a new cease-fire to bring them home. Hamas released over 100 hostages in exchange for Palestinian prisoners during a weeklong cease-fire in November.
There was no information Thursday on the status of the medicines that entered the territory as part of the deal.
The first agreement between the warring sides in a while was brokered. Large shipments of medicine, food, and humanitarian aid for the Palestinians are included in the deal.
Commentators have begun to question whether Netanyahu’s objectives are realistic, given the slow pace of the offensive and growing international criticism, including genocide accusations at the United Nations world court, which Israel vehemently denies.
Israeli Defense of the Second-Law Order Solution to the Israeli-Israel War: Israel’s Independence from the Gaza Strip and the Status of the West Bank
A group of people gathered in Tel Aviv to show their support for the family of the Israeli child who was kidnapped. The redheaded infant and his 4-year-old brother were taken hostage with their mother and their father. The four were still in captivity.
The White House rebuked the comments immediately. Kirby said the President would keep working on the two-state solution.
He told his friends in the US that they should not be coerced to a reality that would endanger the state of Israel.
Mr. Kirby warned Mr. Netanyahu not to use language like “security control” in reference to the prime minister’s statement. Mr. Netanyahu, speaking in Hebrew, referred to “all the territory west of the Jordan” but some translated it incorrectly into English as “from the river to the sea,” wording that has drawn criticism.
Why am I saying this? Because at a nationally televised news conference on Thursday, Netanyahu made clear something he only hinted at in recent weeks. Despite the disastrous Hamas attack on Oct. 7 happening on his watch, he is going to frame his campaign to stay in power with this argument: The Americans and the Arabs want to force a Palestinian state down Israel’s throat, and I am the only Israeli leader strong enough to resist them. If my mistake on October 7 affects my vote, so be it. I can only protect us from Biden’s plan to create Gaza as part of a Palestinian state with the West Bank.
At the same conference, Saudi Arabia’s foreign minister said the kingdom is ready to establish full relations with Israel as part of a larger political agreement. “But that can only happen through peace for the Palestinians, through a Palestinian state,” he said.
The two-state solution is the best way to protect Israel, unify moderate Arab countries and prevent Iran from acquiring a nuclear weapon, according to Tony Blinken at the World Economic Forum.
The U.S. has also called for steps toward the establishment of a Palestinian state. The Palestinians want a separate state for Gaza, the West Bank and east Jerusalem. Israel captured those areas in 1967.
The staggering cost of the war has led to increasing calls from the international community to halt the offensive. After initially giving Israel wall-to-wall support in the early days of the war, the United States, Israel’s closest ally, has begun to express misgivings and urged Netanyahu to spell out his vision for postwar Gaza.
He vowed to keep pushing for many months despite growing claims by Israeli critics that those goals aren’t doable. “We will not settle for anything short of an absolute victory,” Netanyahu said.
In a nationally televised news conference, Netanyahu struck a defiant tone, repeatedly saying that Israel would not halt its offensive until it realizes its goals of destroying Gaza’s Hamas militant group and bringing home all remaining hostages held by Hamas.
The tense back and forth reflected what has become a wide rift between the two allies over the scope of Israel’s war and its plans for the future of the beleaguered territory.
The Israeli Prime Minister and Deputy Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu (Ranan Hussein) on a Two-State Solution to Israel’s Problem with Hamas
I know what you’re asking: You mean Netanyahu would actually run for re-election by positioning himself against the American president who flew over to Israel right after Oct. 7, where he put a protective arm around Bibi and the whole Israeli body politic and basically gave Israel a green light to try to destroy Hamas in Gaza, even if it led to thousands of Palestinian civilians being killed in the process? You mean to save his own political skin, Netanyahu would actually run on a platform that would guarantee Israel had no American, Palestinian, Arab or European partners to help Israel govern or exit Gaza or get its hostages back?
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After the call, the president told reporters at the White House that there were several types of two-state solutions. Some countries of the U.N. do not have their own militaries. Number of states that have limitations.” He said that he thought there were ways in which this could work.
He denied that Mr. Biden was trying to convince Mr. Netanyahu to accept a Palestinian state. This is not about twisting someones arm or changing their mind, he said. Prime Minister Netanyahu made clear his concerns about that. President Biden believes a two-state solution is still the right way to go. And we’re going to continue to make that case.”
Mr. Kirby said the two leaders discussed hostages, humanitarian aid to Gaza, the release of tax payments to the Palestinian Authority in the West Bank and the shift in Israel’s military strategy. But Mr. Kirby revealed no specific new agreements and confirmed that the leaders continued to disagree about the prospect of a Palestinian state.
There was a long gap between the calls. Between October 7 and Christmas, Mr Biden and Mr Netanyahu spoke 14 times, or once every five and a half days. This time it took 27 days to reach out again.
“I can’t do that,” Rep. Kirby, D.C.Tlaib, C.M. Phys. Lett. A. Poincar’e, J.P., 47 (19
But Mr. Kirby sought to play down the discord, characterizing their clashes as honest disagreements between friends. He said that they wouldn’t agree on everything. We have said that. Good friends and allies can have those kinds of candid, forthright discussions and we do.”
The latter phrase, often used by Palestinians and their supporters, is taken by many backers of Israel as an antisemitic statement advocating the eradication of Israel, which lies between the Jordan River and the Mediterranean Sea, as do the Palestinian territories. Representative Tlaib was censured by the House for her use of that phrase.