Israeli War on the Gaza: Netanyahu rebuffs US exhortations to start planning for a Palestinian state and tells Israel to stop attacking Israel
Netanyahu rebuffs calls from the US to start working towards the goal of establishing a Palestinian state, as he seems to rule out a postwar peace process that would lead to that.
Netanyahu spoke just a day after U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said Israel would never have “genuine security” without a pathway toward Palestinian independence. The White House made a statement earlier this week stating that it was time for Israel to slow down its military offensive in Gaza.
The Biden administration and the Israeli government have diverged sharply over how Gaza will be governed when the fighting ends. President Biden and his top diplomat, Antony J. Blinken, have urged Israeli officials to start planning for the eventual establishment of a Palestinian state. Mr. Biden suggested that the Palestinian Authority, which is based on the West Bank, be used as an interim step toward that goal.
Israeli officials have always dismissed such calls, saying they are concentrating on the war in Gaza. On Thursday, Mr. Netanyahu told reporters he had rebuffed the latest exhortations.
“This truth I tell to our American friends, and I put the brakes on the attempt to coerce us to a reality that would endanger the state of Israel,” he said.
If you asked an average Israeli about his or her mental state, they would not think of what the peace agreements would be about because they want to know what safety could be in the future. Mr. Herzog said during an onstage interview at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland. “Every Israeli wants to know that he will not be attacked in the same way from north or south, or east.”
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Air raid sirens went off in Eilat after the Israeli military said it fired an air defense missile at a “suspicious aerial target” over the Red Sea. The Houthis have launched drones and missiles toward Israel that mostly fell short or were intercepted and shot down.
The Iranian-backed groups attacking the U.S. and Israel is part of the war in the Middle East. Low-intensity fighting between Israel and Hezbollah militants in Lebanon threatens to erupt into all-out war, and Houthi rebels in Yemen continue to target international shipping despite United States-led airstrikes.
The Israeli army said on Thursday it had destroyed the “heart” of Hamas’ weapons manufacturing industry in central Gaza. An extensive tunnel network, used to ship arms throughout Gaza, was included in the complex.
The crossborder attack by Hamas took place in October, killing 1,200 people and taking hundreds of others hostage. Roughly 130 hostages are believed by Israel to remain in Hamas captivity. The war is threatening to cause more conflict in the region.
Hundreds of thousands of Palestinians have packed into southern Gaza, where shelters run by the United Nations are overflowing and massive tent camps have gone up.
Families of the hostages and their many supporters have called for a new cease-fire that could bring them home. During the cease-fire in November, Hamas released over 100 hostages.
There was no word Thursday on whether medicines that entered the territory as part of a deal brokered by France and Qatar had been distributed to dozens hostages with chronic illnesses who are being held by Hamas.
The agreement was the first to be brokered between the warring sides since November. There are large shipments of medicine, food, and humanitarian aid for Palestinian civilians in the deal.
Netanyahu’s opponents say he is delaying any discussion of postwar scenarios so as to avoid investigations of government failures and put off elections. Opinion polls show that Netanyahu’s popularity has plummeted because of his trial on corruption charges.
Dozens of people attended a somber gathering in Tel Aviv in solidarity with the family of Kfir Bibas, the youngest Israeli hostage, marking his first birthday. The father of the infant and his 4-year-old brother had taken them hostages along with their mother and another person. All four remain in captivity.
Source: Netanyahu says he told U.S. that he opposes Palestinian state in any postwar scenario
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The White House rebuked the comments immediately. Kirby said that President Joe Biden would “not stop working” toward a two-state solution.
Netanyahu, who leads a far-right government opposed to Palestinian statehood, repeated his longstanding opposition to a two-state solution. He claimed that a Palestinian state would be a launchpad for attacks on Israel.
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. He said that the only way for that to happen is through a Palestinian state.
The best way to protect Israel is through a two-state solution, said Tony Blinken during a speech at the World Economic Forum.
The international community is growing more calls for a halt to the offensive because of the staggering cost of the war. 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 promised to continue with the goals for many months despite the claims of Israeli critics that they are not doable. “We will not settle for anything short of an absolute victory,” Netanyahu said.
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.