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ARAB AND WORLD
Wed 05 Jun 2024 10:01 am - Jerusalem Time
Biden: It is not certain that Israel committed war crimes in Gaza
- US President Joe Biden said that it is not certain whether Israel has committed war crimes in the Gaza Strip, revealing his biggest disagreement with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu during an interview with the American "Time" magazine yesterday, Tuesday.
- Biden said he was "not sure" whether Israel was committing war crimes in Gaza, noting that "many innocents were killed" and that Israel was investigating war crimes accusations itself.
- Biden also questioned Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's war intentions, saying there was "every reason for people" to conclude that Netanyahu is prolonging the war for his own political purposes.
- But later on Tuesday, Biden appeared to walk back those comments after a reporter asked him if Netanyahu was “playing a political game” in the war. “I don’t think so,” the president replied. “Rather, he is trying to solve the serious problem he has.”
- According to experts, these statements, despite their conflicting nature, were the latest event to strain relations between Biden and Netanyahu. Biden presented what he described as an Israeli ceasefire proposal in Gaza on Friday, but Netanyahu has since publicly distanced himself from the deal, which his right-wing coalition partners said would push them to topple the government.
- But the flow indicates that there has been no tangible change in Biden's policy of absolute support for Israel in its fierce war that it has been waging against the besieged Gaza Strip for eight months.
- Israel signed an agreement on Tuesday with the United States to add a third squadron of F-35 fighter jets to the Israeli Air Force. Handover will begin in 2028, but the timing of the agreement was notable as Biden seeks to pressure Israel to end its war in Gaza.
- Josh Ball, a former State Department official who worked on arms transfers and humanitarian aid, said signing the agreement amid the current situation in Gaza “shows how serious the Biden administration is not about putting real pressure on Israel to end its operations in Gaza.” Who resigned in protest against Biden's policy towards Gaza last year.
- Inside Israel, according to what was reported by multiple American media, including the New York Times, the Washington Post and CNN, the announcement on Monday evening of the killing of four hostages in the Gaza Strip led to increased pressure on the Netanyahu government to adopt a ceasefire agreement. With Hamas and the return of those still in captivity alive.
- According to the Washington Post, Israeli army spokesman Daniel Hajari said in a press conference that the four hostages were killed several months ago in the Khan Yunis area of Gaza “during our operation there against Hamas,” while Netanyahu said he was working “in countless ways” to return the hostages.
- The fallout from the hostage deaths dominated the front pages of Israeli newspapers on Tuesday, with prominent columnists saying more should have been done to rescue the four men.
- Monday's announcement meant that more than a third of the hostages still being held in Gaza – 43 out of 124 – have now been confirmed dead, according to the Israeli Prime Minister's Office's own tally (this number includes four hostages from 2014, two of whom were confirmed dead).
- In turn, the official spokesman for the US State Department, Matthew Miller, reiterated that the Gaza ceasefire proposal announced by President Joe Biden last Friday is essentially an “Israeli” proposal, and that it hopes that the ceasefire agreement will be fully implemented if Hamas accepts it.
- Miller touched on the Israeli government's criticism that the three-stage ceasefire proposal "does not completely match Israel's proposal," indicating that these assessments are incorrect.
- He added: “This proposal is the draft developed by (Israel) as a result of consultations with the United States, Qatar and Egypt, but in the end it is an Israeli proposal,” stressing that Biden announced the ceasefire proposal very clearly to world public opinion.
- The spokesman pointed out that "there are no gaps in the announced ceasefire draft, and that Biden, of course, did not reveal all the details of the ceasefire proposal, but he clearly shared the basic information."
- Miller stated in his speech that if Hamas accepts the proposed proposal, they expect the ceasefire plan to be fully implemented, and that they are in constant contact with the Israeli side regarding this issue.
- He claimed that "the only thing standing in the way of an immediate ceasefire today is Hamas," adding that Washington hopes that Hamas will accept the agreement proposal, and that Qatar and Egypt are helping in this regard.
- Israel continues its war without a decisive response to Biden’s proposal, ignoring a Security Council resolution demanding that it stop the fighting immediately, and orders from the Court of Justice to stop its attack on Rafah in the southern Gaza Strip, and take immediate measures to prevent acts of “genocide” and “improve the humanitarian situation” in the Strip. .
- In turn, Majid Al-Ansari, spokesman for the Qatari Foreign Ministry, the mediator in the ceasefire talks, said in a statement to the Washington Post on Tuesday, “We are awaiting a clear Israeli position representing the entire government in response to the proposal” announced by Biden on Friday. .
- Al-Ansari said that Qatar “delivered the proposal alongside Hamas,” and that “the paper is now much closer in terms of the positions of both sides.” We are now doing our best to reach a final agreement,” while Hamas official Suhail Hindi said (also to the Washington Post) that the plan that Biden presented publicly last week is still being discussed by the movement.
- This news came amid a wave of confused messages regarding the ceasefire proposal between Hamas and Israel. On Monday, Netanyahu told a parliamentary committee that any “allegations that we agreed to a ceasefire without meeting our conditions are incorrect.”
- The stalemate in the discussions sparked anger and opposition within Netanyahu's government. The far-right members of his coalition threatened to resign and topple the government if the deal presented by Biden was accepted. Meanwhile, the Shas party in the Israeli Knesset said it had decided to “fully support the Israeli proposal.” The religious faction, part of Netanyahu's ruling coalition, said it wanted to "complete the deal."
- The main remaining point of contention is how and when the war will officially end. Israel insists that it will not accept any option that guarantees the survival of Hamas. Hamas said it required a permanent ceasefire and a complete withdrawal of Israeli forces from the Gaza Strip.
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Biden: It is not certain that Israel committed war crimes in Gaza