5/25/2024–|Last updated: 5/25/202402:32 PM (Mecca time)
US Secretary of State Anthony Blinken made a call with Israeli Minister Benny Gantz, in which he reaffirmed – according to what the US State Department revealed – President Joe Biden’s position regarding a “major operation in Rafah.”
The ministry stated, in a statement, that Blinken also discussed the importance of concluding talks between Egypt and Israel to reopen the Rafah crossing as soon as possible. The statement did not indicate that the American minister addressed the decision of the International Court of Justice regarding the complete and immediate cessation of military operations on the city of Rafah, south of Gaza.
Regarding the reasons for Blinken’s contact with Gantz and not other Israeli officials, the director of Tel Aviv Tribune’s office in Ramallah, Walid Al-Omari, said that Gantz is the trust of the Americans in light of the destabilization of their confidence in Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who is trying to circumvent the American administration and its president and reach Congress and give a speech there. .
Tel Aviv Tribune’s bureau chief indicates that Gantz was excluded from the emergency meeting held by Netanyahu to discuss the response to the International Court of Justice’s decision.
Blinken’s call – Walid adds – to Minister Gantz came to ring the bell before Netanyahu that his tricks that he had tried with former President Barack Obama in 2015 could not be repeated now.
The United States also wants to confirm its position regarding the Israeli military operation in Rafah, although there are big question marks regarding its position, as it says that it is against a major military operation, which means that it accepts a small operation, as Walid says.
According to Tel Aviv Tribune’s bureau chief, War Council Ministers Gantz and Gadi Eisenkot and a large number of security service leaders and military officials, including Chief of Staff Herzi Halevy, support the necessity of concluding a prisoner exchange deal with the Palestinian resistance, something that Netanyahu fears, as he refuses to stop the war in Gaza.
Regarding the decision of the International Court of Justice, Walid points out that Israel is counting on the American veto if the decision is transferred to the UN Security Council in order to oblige Israel to implement it, which is a new and old Israeli bet, considering that 76 Security Council resolutions were overturned by the United States by veto.
Despite this, Israel fears that the International Court of Justice’s decision will lead to the beginning of the end of its impunity, in addition to its fear that individual countries will begin to take punitive measures against it.