Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu hit back at President Joe Biden on Monday morning, laying out his own red line in Gaza.
He has seen gaps open in the relationship with his strongest ally as Biden has urged him to think twice before launching the next phase of his attack on the Hamas terror group in Rafah, one of the last places where civilians can take shelter in the south of the country. edge of the Gaza Strip.
‘Look, it’s Israel or Hamas. There is no middle ground. I mean, we have to get that win,” he told “Fox and Friends.”
‘We can’t get a three-quarter victory. We cannot achieve two-thirds of a victory because Hamas will regroup with these four battalions in Rafah, retake the Gaza Strip and repeat the October 7 massacre again and again.
“And for us, Israel, not only for me, but for the people of Israel, that is a red line. We cannot let Hamas survive.”
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu used an interview with ‘Fox and Friends’ to hit back at President Joe Biden Monday morning and draw his own red line in Gaza
A man walks past signs with photos of hostages kidnapped during the deadly October 7 attack on Israel by Gaza-based Palestinian Islamist group Hamas, in Tel Aviv, Israel
Netanyahu has seen global support for his offensive evaporate after the October 7 Hamas attack as the death toll in Gaza rises above 30,000 people.
He is under intense pressure to allow more aid as humanitarian groups warn that famine is gripping populations affected by five months of war.
Biden initially backed Netanyahu as his strongest backer, backing his war aims to destroy Hamas and arguing that a ceasefire would only give the group a chance to rearm and reorganize.
But as other world leaders take a harder line against Israel, Biden has seen the left of his own party revolt.
On Saturday, he warned Netanyahu that his approach was undermining Israel’s own interests and outlined a red line.
“(Netanyahu) has the right to defend Israel, the right to continue to pursue Hamas,” he told MSNBC in an interview.
“But he must, he must, he must pay more attention to the innocent lives that are being lost as a result of the actions taken.
“He is, in my opinion, hurting Israel more than he is helping Israel by making the rest of the world… it is against what Israel stands for. And I think it’s a big mistake.’
The president was asked if there was a “red line” to his support for Israel, such as the invasion of the city of Rafah.
Displaced Palestinians take shelter in a tent camp, amid the ongoing conflict between Israel and the Palestinian Islamist terror group Hamas, in Rafah, southern Gaza Strip
Israeli soldiers pray in front of an armored fighting vehicle in an area near the border with the Gaza Strip, in an undisclosed location in southern Israel
“It’s a red line, but I will never leave Israel,” he said, refusing to halt military sales to Israel.
His growing frustration with Netanyahu entered the public spotlight two days earlier after the State of the Union address.
He was caught on a hot microphone describing how he had spoken harsh words to the Israeli leader. “I told him, Bibi, and don’t repeat it, but you and I are going to have a ‘come to Jesus’ meeting,” he was heard saying.
Netanyahu, who heads a far-right coalition with a shaky grip on power, hit back in interviews with US media on Sunday and Monday.
Planes drop humanitarian aid over the Gaza Strip as Israeli attacks and blockades continue to cause famine in Gaza City
Biden told MSNBC on Saturday that the Israeli prime minister is “hurting Israel” by killing so many civilians
“We are going to do what it takes to minimize civilian casualties, provide humanitarian aid, something we believe in, but we must destroy this terrorist Nazi army or there will be no future for anyone in the Middle East,” he said. he. promising not to ‘get off the gas’.
And he added that there was no point in not moving to Rafah, where he said a quarter of Hamas’s fighting force had sought shelter.
‘They are there in Rafah. This would be like saying, after the Allies have fought back, gone through Normandy, gone through Germany and you would say, we are leaving a quarter of the Nazi army behind and we are not going to go to Berlin. , the last stronghold,” he said.
And he rejected Biden’s red line outright in an interview with Politics. He said the The Israeli army would invade Rafah and most of the Arab world supported this move.
“We’re going there,” he said. ‘We’re not leaving. You know, I have a red line. You know what the red line is: October 7 will not happen again. It’ll never happen again.’