Israel’s Netanyahu Suggests Rafah Operations Continue Despite Suspension of US Aid
By Stefan J. Bos, Chief International Correspondent Worthy News
JERUSALEM (Worthy News) – Israel’s prime minister signaled to the White House on Thursday that “no amount of pressure” will stop his Jewish nation from defending itself.
Benjamin Netanyahu posted a video message on social media platform X, a day after U.S. President Joe Biden confirmed publicly that the United States withheld a shipment of thousands of heavy bombs.
— Benjamin Netanyahu – בנימין נתניהו (@netanyahu) May 9, 2024
Biden made clear that the decision was made out of concern over Israel’s slow-rolling assault in the Gaza city of Rafah, where Washington opposes a major Israeli invasion without civilian safeguards.
“Civilians have been killed in Gaza as a consequence of those bombs and other ways in which they go after population centers,” Biden said Wednesday night, his first public words about the weapons pause.
U.S. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin suggested to reporters Wednesday more weapons could be withheld.
Officials said the withholding of military aid also came after tense phone calls between Biden and Netanyahu, including on April 4, after seven World Central Kitchen (WCK) aid workers were killed in Gaza in an Israeli air strike.
ISRAEL GETS ULTIMATUM
Biden reportedly gave Netanyahu an ultimatum: protect citizens and aid workers, or else U.S. policy would change.
Israel denied targeting civilians, saying Hamas is using them as human shields, though Israel expressed it “deeply regrets the tragic incident” on April 1 that killed the WCK workers.
Yet despite these setbacks, Netanyahu made clear Israel won’t halt its military operations in Gaza and hasn’t ruled out invading Rafah to destroy Hamas.
He said Hamas, deemed a terrorist organization in Israel, carried out the biggest atrocities against Jews since the Holocaust, or Shoah, killing some 1,200 people and abducting hundreds on October 7.
“Eighty years ago, in the Holocaust, the Jewish people were totally defenseless against those who sought our destruction,” he said in video-recorded comments posted on X on Thursday.
“No nation came to our aid,” he added in the remarks he made during a ceremony earlier this week in Yad Vashem, Israel’s official memorial to the victims of the Holocaust.
‘BENT ON DESTRUCTION’
Netanyahu stressed, “Today, we again confront enemies bent on our destruction. I say to the leaders of the world, no amount of pressure, no decision by any international forum, will stop Israel from defending itself.”
He added: “As the Prime Minister of Israel – the one and only Jewish state – I pledge here today from Jerusalem on this Holocaust Remembrance Day: ‘If Israel is forced to stand alone, Israel will stand alone’.”
However, he expressed hope, saying, “We know we are not alone because countless decent people around the world support our just cause. And I say to you: ‘We will defeat our genocidal enemies. Never again is now!’”
He posted his comments on the eve of an expected vote Friday in the United Nations General Assembly on a draft resolution to upgrade the Palestinian status at the U.N., granting it almost all statehood rights.
The resolution would recognize the Palestinians as qualified to become a full U.N. member. It would recommend that the decision making U.N. Security Council “reconsider the matter favorably.”
Israel says such a move would undermine its security and effectively reward Hamas for its massacre in Israel on October 7.
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