Israeli Foreign Minister Israel Katz responded on Sunday to public criticism by US President Joe Biden of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his government, vowing that Israel would evacuate Rafah residents to the West Bank or other areas of the Strip before launching a ground operation in the city.
Katz said the Israeli government does not deliberately harm civilians. “No harm intended,” he affirmed.
The Israeli minister also tried to downplay Biden’s comments, saying the US backed Israel’s war aims and that was what mattered.
“US President Joe Biden wants to see a plan to evacuate Palestinians before an Israeli military assault in Gaza's Rafah,” the Israeli FM said. “We evacuated more than a million Palestinians from north to south and now we have to move them west and to other areas before the Rafah operation.”
Katz was the only official who immediately responded to Biden's remarks, while Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu remained silent.
In an interview with MSNBC on Saturday, Biden had strongly lashed out at Netanyahu.
The US President said he would make the case that Jerusalem must dramatically alter its prosecution of the war against Hamas in Gaza, indicating that he is prepared to return to Israel and speak before the Knesset in order to do this, The Times of Israel wrote.
The newspaper said some left-leaning pundits have been urging Biden to bypass Netanyahu’s hardline government and speak directly to the Israeli public.
Pressed on whether his speech would have to be at the invitation of Netanyahu or President Isaac Herzog, Biden responds, “I’d rather not discuss it more.”
This was the first time the president revealed any intention to take this far-reaching step, in an interview that also saw him continue to employ more aggressive rhetoric against Israel.
Such language has intensified following a mass-casualty incident on February 29 in which dozens of Palestinians were killed trying to collect humanitarian aid in Gaza City, where law and order has collapsed amid desperate conditions.
Also, Biden was caught on a hot mic telling a Democratic lawmaker after his Thursday State of the Union address that he recently told Netanyahu that the two of them were going to have a “come to Jesus” meeting.
“It’s an expression used in the southern part of my state meaning ‘a serious meeting,'” Biden told MSNBC. “I’ve known Bibi (Netanyahu) for 50 years, and he knew what I meant by it.”
The president reiterated that Israel has “a right to continue to pursue Hamas,” but that Netanyahu must pay more attention to the innocent civilians caught in the crossfire.
Ignoring the lives lost is “contrary to what Israel stands for, and I think it’s a big mistake,” Biden argued.
The president said that, in his opinion, Netanyahu “is hurting Israel more than helping Israel.”
Asked whether an Israeli operation in Rafah would be a “red line,” Biden responded, “It is a red line,” without adding the usual qualification regarding the mass-evacuation plan that the US is demanding.
But then he appeared to backtrack, saying, “I’m never going to leave Israel. The defense of Israel is still critical. There’s no red line [in which] I’m going to cut off all weapons so that they don’t have the Iron Dome [missile defense system] to protect them.”
Biden added, “But there’s red lines that if he crosses and they continue...” before he shifted and asserted, “[they] cannot have 30,000 more Palestinians dead as a consequence of going after [Hamas].”
In Israel, Biden’s statements were considered as conclusive evidence that Biden has reached a point where he has lost patience with Netanyahu and was ready to attack him repeatedly and in public.
The Israelis say the comments of the US president reflect the extent of the growing divisions and public friction between the White House and the hardline Israeli government.
For his part, Israeli opposition leader Yair Lapid said he wasn’t surprised by Biden’s remarks.
The US “lost faith in Netanyahu and it’s not surprising. Half of his Cabinet has lost faith in him as has the majority of Israel’s citizens,” Lapid said.
He then accused Netanyahu of pandering to his base and said the prime minister had narrow political interests in mind, like placating the far-right members of his Cabinet.
