Netanyahu, Biden at loggerheads over war, Gaza's future
While the Americans pressure Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to lean on the Palestinian Authority, the Israeli leader continues to scapegoat Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas.
TEL AVIV — Long-simmering tensions between Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and US President Joe Biden came to a head this week as each enunciated his vision for the post-Hamas future of the Gaza Strip.
Spelling out Biden’s views, national security adviser Jake Sullivan, who had just met with Netanyahu and his war cabinet in Tel Aviv, told Channel 12 anchor Yonit Levi, “The ultimate governance of the West Bank and Gaza needs to be connected and it needs to be connected under a revamped and revitalized Palestinian Authority."
As this vision is known to be anathema to Israel’s government, Sullivan took pains to highlight the administration’s commitment to Israel's security, the consensus between the two sides on the need to dismantle the Hamas regime and the good working relations between the United States and Israel.
Netanyahu responded to the US push for a revamped PA rule in Gaza in a video posted on X. “After the great sacrifice of our civilians and our soldiers, I will not allow the entry into Gaza of those who educate for terrorism, support terrorism and finance terrorism,” he said in the clip recorded ahead of Sullivan’s arrival.
