JERUSALEM, Israel
Israel Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Thursday rejected U.S. calls to scale back Israel’s military offensive in the Gaza Strip or take steps toward the establishment of a Palestinian state after the war, drawing an immediate scolding from the White House.
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.
“We obviously see it
differently,” White House national security spokesman John Kirby said.
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. Earlier
this week, the White House also announced that it was the “right time” for Israel
to lower the intensity of its devastating military offensive in Gaza.
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.
He rejected claims by a
growing chorus of Israeli critics that those goals are not achievable, vowing
to press ahead for many months. “We will not settle for anything short of an
absolute victory,” Netanyahu said.
Israel launched the offensive
after an unprecedented cross-border attack by Hamas on October 7 that killed
1,200 people and took some 250 others hostage. Roughly 130 hostages are
believed by Israel to remain in Hamas captivity. The war has stoked tensions
across the region, threatening to ignite other conflicts.
Israel's assault, one of the
deadliest and most destructive military campaigns in recent history, has killed
nearly 25,000 Palestinians, according to Gaza health authorities, caused
widespread destruction and uprooted over 80% of the territory’s 2.3 million
people from their homes.
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.
The United States has said the
internationally recognized Palestinian Authority, which governs semi-autonomous
zones in the Israeli-occupied West Bank, should be “revitalized” and return to
Gaza. Hamas ousted the authority from Gaza in 2007.
The U.S. has also called for
steps toward the establishment of a Palestinian state. The Palestinians seek
Gaza, the West Bank and east Jerusalem for their state. Those areas were
captured by Israel in 1967.
Speaking Wednesday at the
World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, Blinken said the two-state solution
was the best way to protect Israel, unify moderate Arab countries and isolate
Israel’s arch-enemy, Iran.
Without a “pathway to a
Palestinian state,” he said, Israel would not “get genuine security.”
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.
Netanyahu, who leads a
far-right government opposed to Palestinian statehood, repeated his
longstanding opposition to a two-state solution. He said a Palestinian state
would become a launching pad for attacks on Israel.
He said Israel "must have
security control over the entire territory west of the Jordan River,” adding:
“That collides with the idea of sovereignty. What can we do?”
“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.
The comments prompted an
immediate rebuke from the White House. Kirby said that President Joe Biden
would “not stop working” toward a two-state solution.
Before October 7, Israeli
society was bitterly divided over Netanyahu’s plan for a judicial overhaul.
Since the attack, the country has rallied behind the war. But divisions have
once again begun to surface over Netanyahu’s handling of the war.
Families of the hostages and
their many supporters have called for a new cease-fire that could bring them
home. Hamas released over 100 hostages in exchange for Palestinian prisoners
during a weeklong cease-fire in November.
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 red-haired infant and
his 4-year-old brother Ariel were taken hostage along with their mother, Shiri,
and their father, Yarden. All four remain in captivity.
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 U.N. world court, which Israel vehemently denies.
Netanyahu’s opponents accuse
him of delaying any discussion of postwar scenarios to avoid looming
investigations of governmental failures, keep his coalition intact and put off
elections. Polls show that the popularity of Netanyahu, who is on trial for corruption
charges, has plummeted during the war.
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