Biden and Netanyahu’s fraught relationship hits new low

[Pelican Press 0]

Biden and Netanyahu’s fraught relationship hits new low

“It’s definitely an earthquake.”

That’s how ********* diplomat Richard Haass described the stunning declaration by

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to ******* if it went ahead with a planned invasion of Rafah in the Gaza Strip.

“This was building up for a while, and Rafah was the straw that broke the camel’s back,” Haass, former president of the Council on Foreign Relations and policy advisor during the George W. Bush administration, said in an interview with

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“There’s real skepticism in the administration that Rafah will bring about a deal for the hostages, like the Israelis have been saying.”

The last several weeks have seen a fraught back and forth between ******* and ****** and the Qatari, Egyptian and ********* mediators trying to come up with a deal that will allow a cease-***** between the warring parties and a release of the hostages still held by the ************ militant group.

******** Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has long pushed for an invasion of Rafah — Gaza’s southernmost city where more than a million displaced Palestinians are sheltering — saying that it’s essential to defeating ****** and winning the war.

Numerous governments and humanitarian aid organizations including the ******* Nations and the WHO have warned of the catastrophic humanitarian consequences of an invasion in the overcrowded enclave that’s already been ravaged by military strikes, ******** and famine.

Following the ******** army’s ground incursions into certain neighborhoods east of Rafah, located in the southern Gaza Strip, Palestinians residing in the area continue to migrate from the eastern neighborhoods of the city towards the west of Khan Yunis on May 09, 2024. 

Ashraf Amr | Anadolu | Getty Images

“I made it clear that if they go into Rafah – they haven’t gone in Rafah yet – if they go into Rafah, I’m not supplying the weapons that have been used historically to deal with Rafah, to deal with the cities – that deal with that problem,” Biden said in an interview with CNN broadcast Thursday.

“Civilians have been ******* in Gaza as a consequence of those ****** and other ways in which they go after population centers,” he said, when asked if the 2,000-pound ****** that the U.S. sends to ******* have ******* civilians.

Pentagon confirms weapons shipment pause to *******

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Wednesday that the administration paused the delivery to ******* of a shipment of 1,800 2,000-pound ****** and 1,700 500-pound ******.

Biden and Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin reiterated Washington’s “ironclad” support for *******, but Austin told lawmakers that “it’s about having the right kinds of weapons for the task at hand” and that the U.S. wants to see ******* carry out “more precise” operations.

“A small diameter *****, which is a precision *******, that’s very useful in a dense, built-up environment,” he said, “but maybe not so much a 2,000-pound ***** that could create a lot of collateral damage.”

Netanyahu ******** undeterred, saying that ******* will “stand alone” and ****** “with our fingernails” if U.S. weapons shipments stopped. Many other ******** lawmakers attacked Biden and the U.S. for the announcement, despite the U.S. being *******’s single biggest supporter and source of military funding and weapons on the world stage.

******** Defense Minister Yoav Gallant (L) visits army units on the border between ******* and Gaza Strip near Rafah, Gaza on May 07, 2024. The ******** army issued immediate evacuation orders early Monday for Palestinians in the eastern neighborhoods of Rafah and called on them to move to the town of al-Mawasi in southern Gaza.

******** Ministry of Defense | Anadolu | Getty Images

Itamar Ben Gvir, *******’s far-right national security minister, posted on X simply writing: “****** [heart emoji] Biden.”

Biden’s warning marked the first time the president, a staunch supporter of ******* and a

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, has paused or threatened to fully halt any arms shipments to the ******* state. It’s also important to note that the paused shipments in question may still be delivered at a later date, and that it

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for ******* already approved by Congress in April.

Will it actually impact anything?

******** security experts say the pause won’t impact planned operations in Rafah, while other analysts say the move is largely symbolic but aims to send a serious message. ******** troops on Tuesday took control of the Gaza side of the vital Rafah border crossing and have been amassing troops there and carrying out strikes on some parts of the city.

“Despite the Biden administration withholding critical munitions from ******* in order to force the delay or halt of *******’s Rafah operation, it’s unlikely that these munitions were the integral ******* required for *******’s planned operation,” Avi Melamed, a former ******** intelligence official and regional analyst, said.

Melamed argued that “Biden’s statements embolden ******, Iran and put U.S. allies in the region at risk,” but that he expects “slow and precise” operations by ******** forces in Rafah, by which means he believes “******* is likely to avoid a direct collision course with the Biden administration’s latest position.”

Clayton Allen, U.S. director at political risk firm Eurasia Group, called Biden’s decision “a headline-grabbing move that has some eventual impact on ******** capabilities,” but added that it “doesn’t hit at the bulk of U.S. assistance or really diminish what they can do in the coming weeks.”

Others praised the move. Independent Sen. Bernie Sanders of Vermont said it must be a “first step.”

“Our leverage is clear,” Sanders said in a statement. “Over the years, the ******* States has provided tens of billions of dollars in military aid to *******. We can no longer be complicit in Netanyahu’s horrific war against the ************ people.”

Read more CNBC politics coverage

Meanwhile, the nonprofit organization DAWN, which is focused on U.S. policy and human rights in the Middle East, said in a statement that the Biden administration’s “suspension of massive ****** to ******* is an important but long overdue acknowledgement that ******* has been using ********* weapons to indiscriminately ***** ************ civilians in violation of the most basic laws of war.”

CNBC has contacted the ******* Defense Forces for comment.

Children sit back on a truck as Palestinians with their packed belongings, continue to depart from the eastern neighborhoods of the city due to ongoing ******** attacks in Rafah, Gaza on May 8, 2024. 

Ali Jadallah | Anadolu | Getty Images

******* maintains that its war is against ****** and that its forces endeavor to avoid civilian casualties. The *******-****** war has ******* more than 34,000 people in Gaza, according to ************ health authorities in the besieged enclave. The invasion was triggered by a ******-led ******* ******* on ******* on Oct. 7 that ******* some 1,200 people there and took roughly 250 ********, more than 100 of whom have been freed.

For Michael Koplow, chief policy officer of the ******* Policy Forum, the warning move by Biden represents a profound shift, and is something to be taken very seriously.

“For all of the times that ******* has seemed at an inflection point since October 7, it currently stands at a juncture that is genuinely perilous,” Koplow wrote in a column on the forum’s website Thursday.

“The U.S.-******* relationship is showing increasingly more daylight through its cracks at the worst possible moment, and the ******** attitude that it is mostly on the U.S. to seal those cracks is finding few buyers.”

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World economy,Politics,******* States,Joe Biden,Government and politics,Foreign policy,*******,Benjamin Netanyahu,Gaza,Breaking News: Politics,Joe Biden,business news
#Biden #Netanyahus #fraught #relationship #hits

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