On Sunday afternoon, President Joe Biden had a call with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in which he again demanded that Israel provide the U.S. with its Rafah invasion plan ahead of time so that Biden’s advisors could review them and weigh in. The White House claims this is needed to ensure that “civilians” in Rafah are protected, or whatever people the White House defines as civilians. The more skeptical among us believe there’s a more nefarious motive.
READ MORE: Biden Admin Wants to See Israel’s ‘Credible and Implementable’ Plan to Protect Civilians in Rafah – Why?
A readout of the call was provided by the White House, but it didn’t contain any hints to Netanyahu’s response.
President Biden spoke earlier today with Prime Minister Netanyahu. The President reaffirmed his ironclad commitment to Israel’s security following the successful defense against Iran’s unprecedented missile and drone attack earlier this month. They also reviewed ongoing talks to secure the release of hostages together with an immediate ceasefire in Gaza. The President referred to his statement with 17 other world leaders demanding that Hamas release their citizens without delay to secure a ceasefire and relief for the people of Gaza. The President and the Prime Minister also discussed increases in the delivery of humanitarian assistance into Gaza including through preparations to open new northern crossings starting this week. The President stressed the need for this progress to be sustained and enhanced in full coordination with humanitarian organizations. The leaders discussed Rafah and the President reiterated his clear position.
However, White House National Security Council spokesperson John Kirby said during an appearance on ABC’s “This Week” that Israeli leaders are going to allow the U.S. to comment on the plans before they’re implemented.
“They’ve assured us that they won’t go into Rafah until we’ve had a chance to really share our perspectives and our concerns with them.”
Netanyahu hasn’t taken kindly to Biden’s finger-wagging and demands over the last many months, especially since the U.S. has been increasingly hostile, diplomatically speaking, to Netanyahu, and is actively attempting regime change in Israel.
READ MORE:
Biden Essentially Abandons Israel in Phone Call With Prime Minister Netanyahu
An Intellectually Bankrupt White House Resurrects the ‘Two-State Solution’ From the Trash Bin
Nobody (well, except for the pro-Hamas types) would blame Netanyahu if he launched the invasion without giving the U.S. plans ahead of time and then essentially told Biden, “Whoops, that must have gone to your spam folder.” And it’s likely that Israel wouldn’t face any consequences because nobody on the world stage is intimidated by anyone in the Biden administration. The diplomacy practiced by Joe Biden and Antony Blinken has proven to be the most impotent diplomacy practiced in the U.S. in recent memory, if not in our entire history. It makes Obama’s hashtag diplomacy and “I’ll have more flexibility after the election” suckup to Russia look somewhat dignified.
