Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu attends a wreath-laying ceremony marking Holocaust Remembrance Day in Jerusalem on May 6, 2024. (Amir Cohen, Pool photo via AFP/Getty Images/TNS)
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu struck a defiant tone against President Joe Biden after the U.S. withheld a shipment of bombs as a warning to its top Middle East ally not to invade the southern Gaza city of Rafah.
In a first, punchy clip on the social media site X, Netanyahu said: “If we have to stand alone, we will stand alone” and “fight tooth and nail.” He then pivoted to a more conciliatory approach when chatting with Phil McGraw, the American talk show host known as Dr. Phil.
“I’ve known Joe Biden for many years, 40 years and more,” Netanyahu said in the interview Thursday on “Dr. Phil Primetime” broadcast on Merit Street Media. “We often had agreements, but we’ve had our disagreements and we’ve been able to overcome them. I hope we can overcome them now.”
Netanyahu said Israel must go into Rafah to finish off the remaining battalions of Hamas, the U.S.-designated terrorist group that killed 1,200 Israelis and kidnapped about 250 last Oct. 7. He said Hamas will “murder again and again” if allowed to survive in Rafah.
“We have to achieve victory,” he said. “That means we have to destroy all these battalions, which we will. We face very strong opposition to that, but we’re going to overcome it.”
Netanyahu said Israel would do its utmost to make sure civilians leave Rafah, where more than a million people are sheltering, before any attack. He also criticized the “madness” of pro-Palestinian rallies on U.S. college campuses, saying protesters are “supporting genocide,” adding that this reflected “the sorry state of American higher education.”
On Wednesday, Biden said he would halt additional shipments of offensive weapons to Israel if it launches a ground invasion of Rafah, decrying the potential loss of civilian life as “just wrong.”
“We’re going to continue to make sure Israel is secure in terms of Iron Dome and their ability to respond to attacks that came out of the Middle East recently,” Biden said in an interview with CNN, referring to air-defense weaponry. “But it’s just wrong. We’re not going to supply the weapons and artillery shells.”
Like Netanyahu, U.S. officials followed sharp criticism with more conciliatory remarks on Thursday.
White House officials insisted the U.S. stands by its ally, while urging Netanyahu to refrain from an assault that could worsen the humanitarian crisis in Gaza.
Spokesman John Kirby reiterated that the administration paused, but didn’t cancel, the shipment of about 3,500 bombs, which he said was limited to specific munitions that could add to the civilian death toll in Gaza.
“The arguments that somehow we’re walking away from Israel flies in the face of the facts,” Kirby told reporters.
There were also indications that the White House hadn’t sought an open confrontation with Netanyahu.
U.S. officials initially planned to inform the Israeli government privately that the U.S. intended to pause the bomb shipment, in order to ramp up pressure on Netanyahu — but not to follow through unless there was a major incursion into urban areas of Rafah. But that plan was foiled when Israeli officials leaked it, people familiar with the situation said.
With assistance from Jordan Fabian, Galit Altstein and Ethan Bronner.
©2024 Bloomberg L.P.
Visit bloomberg.com
Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.
