Is there really a rift growing between U.S. President Joe Biden and the Prime Minister of Israel Benjamin Netanyahu over the continuing Iron Swords War in Gaza? Well, recent comments made by President Biden seem to imply there very well may be one.
President Biden publicly rebuked Benjamin Netanyahu while speaking to Democratic donors in Washington on Tuesday.
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“I think he [Netanyahu] has to change, and with this government, this government in Israel is making it very difficult for him to move,” Joe Biden said.
The President went on to call Netanyahu’s government the “most conservative government in Israel’s history,” adding that it doesn’t want a two-state solution.”
The President has made no secret of his disapproval of Benjamin Netanyahu’s political policies since Netanyahu won last year’s Israeli elections. Before the war in Gaza began the President was vocal in his criticisms of the Netanyahu government’s proposed judicial reforms, agreeing with the Israeli opposition’s claims that they would harm Israel’s nature as a democratic nation.
President Biden is also no fan of some of Benjamin Netanyahu’s coalition partners. He has been especially critical of Itamar Ben-Gvir, a right wing politician who serves as Israel Minister of National Security.
On the war in Gaza, there has been a clear rift between the two sides. President Biden wants Israel to let up on its attacks since they harm Gazan civilians. He also expects that the Palestinian Authority (PA) based in Ramallah will assume control of Gaza after Hamas is removed. Hamas took power away from the Palestinian Authority in a 2006 coup.
“We’ll continue to provide military assistance to Israel until they get rid of Hamas, but we have to be careful – they have to be careful,” Biden said on the matter. “The whole world’s public opinion can shift overnight, we can’t let that happen.”
Benjamin Netanyahu released a statement in response to the President’s remarks declaring that Israel will not allow the PA to run Gaza after the war is over.
“I greatly appreciate the American support for destroying Hamas and returning our hostages,” Netanyahu was careful to stress in the opening of his statement.
“Following an intensive dialogue with President Biden and his team, we received full backing for the ground incursion and blocking the international pressure to stop the war,” he added.
Netanyahu acknowledged his difference of opinion with President Biden saying, “Yes, there is disagreement about ‘the day after Hamas’ and I hope that we will reach an agreement here as well.”
But then he referred to the 1993 Oslo Accords in which Israel recognized the terrorist PLO (Palestine Liberation Organization) and allowed it to establish the PA in Gaza and the West Bank, as a blunder.
“I would like to clarify my position,” he said. “I will not allow Israel to repeat the mistake of Oslo.”
“After the great sacrifice of our civilians and our soldiers,” added Netanyahu, “I will not allow the entry into Gaza of those who educate for terrorism, support terrorism and finance terrorism.”
“Gaza will be neither Hamastan nor Fatahstan,” he declared. “Fatahstan was a reference to the Fatah political party that runs the PA.
