Netanyahu pledges to ignore Biden’s ‘red line’ and invade Rafah – Washington Examiner

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu brushed off President Joe Biden’s concerns and criticisms, vowing to move forward with Israel’s military occupation in Gaza.

Biden insisted on Saturday that the Israeli leader’s strategy for the country’s war against Hamas is “hurting Israel more than helping.” When asked about Rafah, he added, “It is a red line,” attempting to put pressure on Netanyahu to do more to protect Palestinians.

Netanyahu was asked the following day whether Israeli forces would push into Rafah, a city in the southern Gaza Strip and a refuge for millions of Palestinians. “We’ll go there. We’re not going to leave. You know, I have a red line. You know what the red line is, that October 7 doesn’t happen again,” he said, referring to Hamas’s brutal massacre that killed about 1,200 Israelis and triggered the current conflict. “Never happens again.”

FILE – Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu speaks during a gathering of Jewish leaders at the Museum of Tolerance in Jerusalem, Sunday, Feb. 18, 2024. Israel can either try to annihilate Hamas, which would mean almost certain death for the estimated 100 hostages still held in Gaza, or it can cut a deal that would allow the militants to claim a historic victory. Either outcome would be excruciating for Israelis. Either would likely seal an ignominious end for Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s long political career. And either might be seen as acceptable by Hamas, which valorizes martyrdom. (AP Photo/Ohad Zwigenberg, File)

The prime minister even said he had the implicit backing of some Arab leaders, according to Politico. “They understand that and even agree with it quietly,” he said. “They understand Hamas is part of the Iranian terror axis.”

Biden has increased pressure on Netanyahu as the war in Gaza has persisted. “You can’t have another 30,000 Palestinians dead as a consequence of going after (Hamas),” the Democratic president added in his interview with MSNBC. “There are other ways to deal with Hamas.”

However, not only has the U.S. continued to supply weapons to Israel, with Biden being denounced by many Democrats and voting blocs for doing so, but it also appears his requests of Netanyahu are being promptly ignored. The Israeli leader’s comments on Sunday do not counteract that assumption, nor do they make Biden appear strong in his foreign endeavors, something at which his rivals will be sure to take aim.

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Netanyahu also directly addressed Biden’s comments on the prime minister “hurting Israel more than helping.” He reportedly said he didn’t know “exactly what the president meant” but that he has Israel and its people’s backing.

“[The Israeli people] also support my position that says that we should resoundingly reject the attempt to ram down our throats a Palestinian state. That is something that they agree on,” Netanyahu said, referring to the “two-state solution,” an idea for an establishment of an independent state of Palestinians alongside Israel.