Netanyahu weighs risks of Rafah assault as hostage dilemma divides Israelis • FRANCE 24 English
two latest moves from Israel which may seem inconsistent launching a new military operation at the Rafa border and sending a negotiating team to Cairo as New Hope is shown on a potential ceasefire deal Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is striking a balancing act between pressures coming from several fronts at home his far-right Coalition Partners have threatened to break up the government if he agrees to a ceasefire and does not launch an operation to clear Hamas out of Rafa he also faces from hostages families and from some 30% of Israelis who are calling on him to stop the war if the only way to get the hostages back is by providing an Israeli guarantee to end this war then end this war meanwhile abroad his allies in particular Washington are pushing him towards a ceasefire calling for Israel to skip Rafa in its ground offensive where more than a million civilians have been Sheltering US President Joe Biden withheld an armed shipment Israel last week including some 3,500 bombs he feared could be dropped on Rafa it’s the first time he’s made such a stand since the start of the war with the White House continuing to PP pressure on Tel Aviv we have been very clear from here about our concerns about a major operations certainly we will continue to speak out this after Netanyahu sent a message to allies during his Holocaust Memorial speech at the beginning of the week I say to the leaders of the world no amount of pressure no decision by any International for will stop Israel from defending itself if Israel is forced to stand alone Israel will stand alone it’s within this context that the Prime Minister has strategically launched a grand incursion on the Rafa border with Egypt but not the city itself and dispatched a low-level negotiation delegation to Cairo a seeming pair of compromises aimed at keeping all parties at Bay as the stakes grow higher
Talks aimed at reaching a Gaza ceasefire-for-hostages deal are ongoing, and Israel and Hamas militants are close enough to an agreement that they should be able to close the gaps, the White House said on Wednesday. Meanwhile, Israel is pursuing an incursion into the overcrowded southern city of Rafah on Tuesday and seized the Rafah crossing into Egypt that is the main conduit for aid into the besieged Palestinian territory. Story by Catherine Khédir-Clifford.
#Netanyahu #Israel #Rafah
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14 comments
Biden has mismanaged the war from Day 1. He claims his goals are in sync with Israel in defeating Hamas, ending the war and freeing the hostages but his actions speak otherwise. He prevented Israel for months on end from going into Rafah, which would have speeded all this up, while they had to make concession after concession as Hamas wouldn't budge, to finally get to a deal that was described as extremely generous. In the meantime it gave Hamas a chance to regroup, which will prolong not shorten the war. Anthony Blinken said all that's preventing the deal is Hamas. But they rejected it anyhow, finally coming up with a completely different one only because Israel started the Rafah op that very same day. Logic would have it that he would encourage Israel to continue that op to keep up the pressure on Hamas to negotiate, the only thing that brought them to the table in the first place. But perversely he does the exact opposite and in addition he halts some military shipments. In addition, Hamas claimed that Biden gave them a guarantee that Israel would not invade Rafah, without Israel's agreement. Now even though he said the ball is in the Hamas court, I'm sure he'll continue to force Israel, not them, into further concessions. He's so desperate to get a ceasefire on any terms for his own selfish political reasons, he's willing to turn his back on a staunch ally. All at a time when Israel is in the middle of a existential war against multiple enemies vowing their destruction. But as usual Israel is never allowed to finish or win a war. Very sad and shameful at best, a potential danger to Israel's security at worst. Worse yet for Biden, by trying to play both sides, he has pleased neither.
All play acting … only to save face before the ceasefire.
Rafah is impossible to defeat seeing how Northern and Central Gaza .
Let israel stand on its own. Its has gone too far own its own.
Reserve Major General and military expert with great influence in the "entity"; Isaac Brick.
From his article last evening on the Maariv website:
“Bibi (Netanyahu) knows very well what is happening these days on the battlefields. He also knows that its continuation will lead to the collapse of the State of Israel militarily, economically, politically and socially.”
“Bibi knows very well that we are in a militarily deadlocked situation.”
“After the army took control of eighty percent of the Gaza Strip (except Rafah), it withdrew its forces from it because it had no other forces to replace them. The result was that Hamas returned en masse to all the areas left by the Israeli army and regained control over them.”
“Bibi also realizes that entering Rafah will not bring anything. Rather, the opposite is true, as it will exacerbate the problem dozens of times. We will also be forced to leave Rafah after its occupation.”
He will go with whatever keeps him in power and out of prison even if that means massacring 6000 more children.
Any statement that starts with “we’ve been very clear” is usually followed by a lie
Stand alone yourself netanyahu. Don’t bring Israel with you
If Israel wants to be alone let them be alone no arms no United Nations no international trade
Stand firm Israel.
Workers united will never be defeated.
Concerns! Concerns! People sick of your concerns! Israil is killing innocent people, nobody is doing anything?! Where is economic sanctions? Where is weapon embargo?
Japanese lucky have a great ceasar, the great leader make them become great nation, israel have great nation, from thousands people become a great nation, Singaporean… another great country lead by strong leadership, Vietnamese… strong and clean leadership make them become great country, Taiwan, china..italiano, germany, and many more…Palestinian ? Gazan ? they only learn hate how to rape and kill…, all donation only for killing machine, wake up palestinian, young brothers and sisters, you can change your nation, people are going to live in mars, you are live in dreaming….
Netanyahu has managed to tank the reputation of a country faster than anything I've seen in my lifetime so far.
This is not defending Izrael it is offending
the main risk for him is that if the war ends, he has to face the corruption charges in his country.