American officials directed sharp criticism at Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu after he announced that he had informed the administration of President Joe Biden of his refusal to establish a Palestinian state after the end of the war in Gaza.
Democratic Senator Chris Murphy said that Netanyahu’s opposition to the establishment of a Palestinian state may complicate the Senate’s approval of the aid package for Israel.
Meanwhile, Democratic Senator Peter Welch confirmed that Netanyahu does not share the United States’ concern about the loss of Palestinian lives.
He added that Netanyahu’s refusal to establish a Palestinian state reveals that he “wants to take American money while always rejecting its advice,” as he put it.
For her part, Senator Tammy Duckworth described Netanyahu’s statements as “shocking.”
Senator Brian Schatz also considered that Netanyahu is wrong and makes things difficult for Israel’s future.
In turn, US Senator Elizabeth Warren described Netanyahu’s refusal to establish a Palestinian state within any post-war arrangements as “dangerous and contradictory” to American policy.
Warren added that Washington supports the two-state solution because it is the only way to guarantee peace, security, and dignity for Israelis and Palestinians, as she put it.
Netanyahu’s statements
Netanyahu said that he informed the United States of his opposition to the establishment of a Palestinian state “within the framework of any post-war scenario” in Gaza, contrary to American desire.
In a press conference yesterday, Thursday, Netanyahu pledged to move forward with the attack on Gaza until Israel achieved a “decisive victory” over the Islamic Resistance Movement (Hamas) and to restore those he described as kidnapped, rejecting the idea of a Palestinian state, and saying that he “conveyed his positions to the Americans.”
Netanyahu added, “In any future arrangement, Israel needs security control over all lands west of the Jordan River.” He noted that “the prime minister must be able to say ‘no’ to our friends,” referring to the United States.
The United States called on Israel to reduce its attack on Gaza, and said that the establishment of a Palestinian state must be part of the “day after” the war.
During the past weeks, public disagreements surfaced between Biden and Netanyahu over the way to manage the war on Gaza, and the future of the Strip after the fighting stopped, but these disagreements did not reach the point of stopping or changing the nature of American support for Tel Aviv.
Last week, the Axios news website reported that the US President hung up the phone on Netanyahu during their last call, in new evidence of the expansion of the dispute as a result of the ongoing Israeli war on the Gaza Strip for 105 days.
Before that, Biden said that Israel had begun to lose global support because of what he described as its indiscriminate bombing of Gaza, but he reiterated that Tel Aviv could rely on American support and stressed that he supported “its right to defend itself.”
The US President hinted at the existence of differences in his relationship with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, stressing that the latter is in a “difficult position.”
