Israeli forces recently advanced a section of Rafah, a significant city in Gaza. The military advancement took plasce Hamas “negotiators” ended talks with Israel. The Israeli troops managed to capture the main road that splits Rafah into eastern and western halves, essentially isolating the eastern area.
This means that Biden’s plan to really stick to Israel and make a statement has spectacularly backfired.
The operation in Rafah coincided with U.S. President Joe Biden announcing an arms embargo against Israel if it proceeded with the attack on Rafah. President Biden expressed concerns over the potential implications of the military action, suggesting it might lead to further escalation in the region.
In response, Rear Admiral Daniel Hagari, a top Israeli military spokesperson, reassured the public and international community that Israel is well-prepared for its operations, including those in Rafah. According to him, the Israeli military has sufficient munitions stockpiled for current and planned operations, indicating that the embargo might not significantly impact the military’s immediate capabilities.
This development also sparked reactions from political figures in Israel. Naftali Bennett, the former Israeli Prime Minister, criticized President Biden during an interview on CNN. Bennett defended Israel’s military strategies and criticized the U.S. president for his comments about Israel’s actions in Rafah. He highlighted that Israel makes considerable efforts to minimize civilian casualties, such as issuing warnings to civilians in combat zones. Bennett also pointed out the challenges Israel faces with Hamas operatives who often operate within civilian areas, complicating Israeli military operations.
“In all wars, all wars, in every urban war in the history of the world, there’s collateral damage, especially when Hamas is using the civilians as a human shield. There’s no doubt,” Bennett said. “But is Israel using bombs to target civilians? Absolutely not. Never. We never target civilians. In fact, we have the lowest ratio of collateral damage in the history of urban warfare. There’s about, let’s call it, 32,000 Palestinians who died. Half of them are terrorists. That’s one to one.”
“In Afghanistan, in Iraq, it was one to nine. For every terrorist you killed, there were six, seven, eight, nine civilians,” he continued. “We’re bending over backward in order to prevent unnecessary deaths. Otherwise, we’d get this whole thing done within three days if we didn’t care about it.”
“I think that this decision is deeply misguided.”
Fmr. Israeli PM Naftali Bennett reacts to President Biden’s warning on OutFront that the U.S. could withhold weapons shipments to Israel pic.twitter.com/p827SUJ3Ww
— Erin Burnett OutFront (@OutFrontCNN) May 9, 2024
