EFor a month there has been radio silence between the American president and the Israeli prime minister. On Monday, Joe Biden and Benjamin Netanyahu spoke on the phone. However, differences over the planned ground offensive in the southern Gaza Strip remain.
Netanyahu then released only a short statement in which he mentioned that both sides had discussed “developments in the war.” He specifically mentioned Israel's commitment to achieving the war's goals: the destruction of Hamas, the freeing of the hostages and ensuring that Gaza never again poses a threat to Israel. Israel is providing the “necessary humanitarian aid” for the Palestinians, he added. No word on the planned ground offensive in Rafah.
In Washington, however, Jake Sullivan, the president's national security adviser, appeared before the press. He reported in detail about the conversation in the White House. The president told Netanyahu that a large-scale ground offensive by Israeli forces in Rafah, on the border with Egypt, would be a “mistake.” Biden said he was “deeply concerned” about Israel’s plans because they endanger the lives of thousands of civilians who fled to Rafah during the military operation in the northern Gaza Strip. Egypt also rejects such an action.
Conversations about “alternative approaches”
Netanyahu disagreed, but agreed to Biden's request to send a delegation of senior Israeli officials to Washington to discuss plans for the offensive and a possible “alternative approach.” Sullivan said there was another way to deal with Hamas terrorists. A team of representatives from the military, intelligence services and humanitarian aid specialists is expected in Washington in the next few days. The aim is to explain the American government's reservations in detail and to discuss possible alternatives. “We assume that they will not move forward with the major military operation in Rafah until we have this conversation,” Sullivan continued. A meeting is planned for the end of this week or the beginning of next week. There is no specific date yet.
Sullivan said more innocent civilians have been killed in the current Gaza war than in all other military operations in Gaza combined. There is a humanitarian crisis. “The President has explained why he is so deeply concerned about the prospect of Israel carrying out a major military operation in Rafah. A major ground offensive there would be a mistake; it would lead to more innocent civilian deaths, worsen the already terrible humanitarian crisis, deepen the anarchy in Gaza and isolate Israel internationally.” Biden and Netanyahu last spoke to each other on February 15. Sullivan described Monday's conversation as “businesslike.”
The Hamas terrorist attack on Israel on October 7 last year initially led to close solidarity between Washington and Jerusalem, although the relationship between Biden and Netanyahu was strained. However, due to the high number of innocent victims in Gaza – Biden recently spoke of 30,000 – the President expressed increasingly clear criticism of the Prime Minister. Eight months before the election in America, the president is also under great pressure domestically because of the Gaza war.
Sullivan emphasized that the president is not concerned with party politics in the Middle East. The president praised Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer's speech on Israel on Friday. Netanyahu had described Netanyahu as an “obstacle to peace” and called for new elections in Israel. Biden spoke of a good speech that expressed serious concerns that not only he but “many Americans” shared. Netanyahu rejected Schumer's words as completely inappropriate.
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