Reuters reported that U.S. President Joe Biden spoke with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on the phone on the 19th, urging him to immediately and significantly ease tensions in the Palestinian Gaza conflict and move toward a cease-fire. This is the fourth call between the two leaders since the Israeli-Palestinian crisis, the third call was on Monday.
Biden’s fourth call with Netanyahu came just hours after the Israeli media quoted the prime minister as saying he would not set a timetable for ending the more than week-long armed conflict. While the Israeli bombardment of the Gaza corridor is aimed at deterring Hamas groups, it does not rule out conquering Hamas, which controls the Gaza corridor.
Speaking about Hamas at a briefing for a group of foreign envoys in Tel Aviv, the Israeli prime minister said: There are only two ways to deal with them. You can conquer them, which is always possible, or you can deter them, and we are imposing a strong deterrent at this moment. But I must say that we do not rule out any option.
In the face of calls from the United Nations and the international community for an early end to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, the Israeli prime minister has said that he does not want to escalate the situation, but the above statement shows Israel’s intention to ride the wave of victory and even to conquer Hamas.
The Israeli-Palestinian military conflict began when Israeli police clashed with Palestinians at the Al-Aqsa Mosque in Jerusalem, the third holiest site in Islam, in early May. Following the clashes, the Palestinian Hamas group fired rockets at Israel, which also started a massive air strike on the Palestinian Gaza corridor on the 10th, killing more than 200 Palestinians so far.
According to reports: Biden had a phone call with Israeli Prime Minister Natanyahu this Monday, the third since the outbreak of violence. On the contents of the call, the White House revealed that Biden “encouraged Israel to make every effort to ensure the protection of innocent civilians” and that the two leaders “discussed the progress of Israeli military operations against Hamas and other terrorist organizations in Gaza.
The White House statement mentioned that “the president expressed support for a cease-fire and discussed U.S. communications with Egypt and other partners to that end.” But the White House statement on the call did not mention any response from Netanyahu to Biden’s cease-fire comments.
Meanwhile, the U.N. Security Council drafted a statement for the third time expressing “grave concern” about the conflict between Israel and the Palestinians and the loss of civilian lives, while the U.S. blocked the Council’s “peace deal” statement for the third time. China, which currently holds the rotating presidency of the UN Security Council, high-profile “urged the United States to assume its due diligence and adopt a just position.
According to Reuters, Biden has come under increasing pressure from his own Democratic Party to play a greater mediating role after the U.S. blocked the Security Council statement for the third time. There has been a subtle change in the “DNA” of the U.S. Democratic Party, which has always supported Israel in the past.
Indeed, 28 Democratic senators issued a statement on Sunday calling for an immediate cease-fire “to prevent further loss of civilian life and to prevent further escalation of the conflict.”
Senate Majority Leader Schumer also said Monday that he, too, would like to see a cease-fire reached quickly. Other sources said the U.S. is believed to be preparing a major initiative on humanitarian reconstruction in Gaza.
U.S. officials here have responded to the outside world by saying that Biden and his team have chosen a more low-key, behind-the-scenes approach, speaking with Israeli officials and U.S. allies in the Arab world and more urging a cease-fire between Israel and Hamas.
On Wednesday, there was finally a fourth call between Biden and Netanyahu, with a White House spokesman telling reporters that the two leaders discussed at length the current state of the Gaza conflict, Israel’s progress in weakening Hamas and other terrorists, and various current diplomatic efforts by regional governments and the United States. But the point of the call was that President Biden conveyed to the Israeli prime minister that he expects to significantly reduce tensions and move toward a cease-fire today.
However, while Biden was more explicit in his call for an Israeli cease-fire, the U.S. program to approve a $735 million sale of precision-guided weapons to Israel had already begun. Congressional sources said Monday that members of Congress are not expected to oppose the deal despite the violent conflict that Israel and Palestinian militants are embroiled in.
Reuters quoted Biden administration staffers as saying neither Democratic nor Republican leaders of the congressional Foreign Affairs Committee, which reviews such arms sales, opposed it. U.S. law allows Congress to oppose arms sales, but it is unlikely to do so this time.
President Biden has decided to shift his strategic focus from the Middle East to the Indo-Pacific region, so there was no intention of perpetuating the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, and Beijing need not worry much about that. What the U.S. needs is to reduce and moderate tensions between Israel and Palestine to conform to the established global layout.
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