Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu issued a veiled criticism of U.S. President Joe Biden on Sunday, ahead of a visit by Secretary of State Antony Blinken, warning the administration that Israel “will not agree to every deal, and not at any price.”
I am returning to the Middle East this coming week to continue working with our partners on how to achieve durable peace in the region, with lasting security for Israelis and Palestinians alike.
— Secretary Antony Blinken (@SecBlinken) February 2, 2024
The rare criticism came along with a subtle rebuke to far-right Cabinet member Itamar Ben Gvir, the national security minister, who criticized Biden openly in a Wall Street Journal interview Sunday, saying that “If Trump was in power, the U.S. conduct would be completely different.”
Netanyahu and other Cabinet members criticized Ben Gvir for risking damage to U.S.-Israel relations by criticizing Biden so openly — but there is quiet frustration building in Israel with the Biden administration’s stance.
The White House has been pressuring Israel to accept a Palestinian state as an outcome of the current war against Hamas — an outcome that, Israel says, would reward Hamas terrorists for starting the war on October 7 with a massive terror attack in Israel.
Moreover, the White House is said to be pushing Israel for a deal to release the 130 or so remaining Israeli hostages held by Hamas in return for ending the war, short of achieving Israel’s goals of removing Hamas as a military and governing power.
Blinken’s State Department is reportedly considering the option of unilaterally recognizing a Palestinian state, and Blinken — though expressing initial sympathy for Israel — criticized Israelis in remarks to the World Economic Forum in Davos last month.
In a statement to a Cabinet meeting that was released by the Government Press Office, Netanyahu said (emphasis added):
Israel is a sovereign state. We greatly appreciate the support that we have received from the Biden administration since the outbreak of the war: In weaponry, at international institutions, in sending forces to the region, and more. This is not to say that there are no disagreements among us but as of today we have succeeded in overcoming them with determined and balanced decisions.
I would like to tell you something, from my own experience: There are those who say ‘Yes’ to everything, even when one must say ‘No.’ While they are applauded by the international community, they endanger our national security. And there are those who say ‘No’ to everything. While they are applauded at home, they also endanger vital interests. I would like to tell you something from my experience: Wisdom is knowing how to navigate – to say ‘Yes’ when it is possible and to say ‘No’ when it is necessary.
I am not in need of any assistance in navigating our relations with the US and the international community while steadfastly upholding our national interests. Thank G-d, I have been doing this for a few years.
As a sovereign state that is fighting for its existence and its future, we make our own decisions, even in those instances where there is no agreement with our American friends.
I would like to clarify our policy: The essential goal is – first of all – to eliminate Hamas. In order to achieve this goal, three things are necessary:
First, Hamas’s battalions must be destroyed. So far we have destroyed 17 of 24 battalions. Most of the remaining battalions are in the southern Strip and in Rafiah, and we will deal with them.
Second, there must be demilitarization after the battalions are destroyed, as our forces are doing with determination by mounting very aggressive raids in the northern and central Strip.
Third, underground neutralization actions are required, as our forces are methodically doing in Khan Yunis and throughout the Strip, and this will yet take time.
The efforts to free the hostages are continuing at all times. As I also emphasized in the Security Cabinet – we will not agree to every deal, and not at any price. Many things that are being said in the media, as if we had agreed to them, such as regarding the release of terrorists, we will simply not agree to them.
We have recently exposed to the world that UNRWA is collaborating with Hamas and that some of its people even participated in the atrocities and abductions of October 7. This only strengthens what we have known for a long time – that UNRWA is not part of the solution, it is part of the problem. The time has come to begin the process of replacing UNRWA with other bodies that are not tainted by support for terrorism.
Blinken is expected in Israel this week during a trip that will include “Saudi Arabia, Egypt, Qatar, Israel, and the West Bank.”
Joel B. Pollak is Senior Editor-at-Large at Breitbart News and the host of Breitbart News Sunday on Sirius XM Patriot on Sunday evenings from 7 p.m. to 10 p.m. ET (4 p.m. to 7 p.m. PT). He is the author of the 2021 e-book, “The Zionist Conspiracy (and how to join it),” now updated with a new foreword. He is also the author of the recent e-book, Neither Free nor Fair: The 2020 U.S. Presidential Election. He is a winner of the 2018 Robert Novak Journalism Alumni Fellowship. Follow him on Twitter at @joelpollak.
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