Published 10 May 2024 at 12.28
Foreign. An increasingly pressed Benjamin Netanyahu vows to continue the war as planned – despite historic opposition from the White House.
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The brutality of the war in Gaza has caused the United States – whose foreign policy is largely controlled by the Israel lobby – to start fiddling in a way that has never been seen before.
The White House has stopped using its veto power against resolutions condemning Israel in the UN Security Council and has imposed sanctions against settlers in the West Bank.
To try to stop Israel's offensive against Rafah, the US is now starting to freeze arms deliveries.
The United States is by far Israel's largest source of arms and ammunition. Every year, the USA donates the equivalent of nearly SEK 40 billion in military aid to Israel. In April, the US Congress passed a bill for an additional SEK 145 billion in extra military support. Large amounts of aid are also given as a kind of “bribe money” to Israel's Arab neighbors to keep them on good terms with the Jewish state.
Now, for the first time, the Biden administration has paused a shipment of ammunition to Israel . The background is that the White House fears that Israel's planned operation in Rafah will lead to a humanitarian disaster with a large number of civilian deaths.
– We will not provide weapons and artillery shells that are used and have been used. These bombs have killed Palestinian civilians in Gaza, says Biden in an interview with CNN.
The American president also admits that Israel used weapons from the United States to kill civilians during the ongoing war.
However, this latest setback will not stop Israel, according to Benjamin Netanyahu.
– If necessary, we will stand alone. I have said that if necessary we will fight with our nails, says the prime minister according to BBC News.
Netanyahu recalls the 1948 war to dismiss the warnings from the United States.
– In the war of independence for 76 years ago we were the few against the many. We had no weapons. There was an arms embargo against Israel, but thanks to great fortitude, heroism and unity we won.
He also emphasizes that Israel has “much more than our fingernails” to use if Biden stops the arms shipments.
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The UN said on Thursday that more than 80,000 people had fled Rafah since Monday. There is constant bombardment in the area and Israeli tanks are gathering at built-up areas.