‘If We Need To, We Will Do It Alone, Without U.S. Support’: Netanyahu Challenges Blinken During Israel Visit on Rafah Operation
Mar 22, 2024Updated: 05:15 a.m.
Protesters calling for the release of the hostages outside of the Tel Aviv hotel when U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken was staying, Friday.Credit: Hadas Parush
IDF soldiers near Gate 96 in northern Gaza.Credit: Amir Cohen/ REUTERS
U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken disembarks from an aircraft as he arrives in Israel, as the push for a ceasefire between the Palestinian militant group Hamas and Israel continues, in Tel Aviv, on Friday.Credit: Evelyn Hockstein/ Reuters
Blinken says Israeli ground operation in Rafah risks ‘further isolating Israel around the world’ ■ Two people with Kalashnikov rifles arrested in West Bank settlement ■ Russia, China veto U.S. resolution at UN Security Council calling for immediate cease-fire ■ Palestinian gunman shoots at bus near West Bank settlement, seven wounded
17 Senate Democrats warned the Biden administration that Israel does not meet the “credible and reliable” test detailed by the national security memorandum, requiring recipients of U.S. weapons to assure unobstructed delivery of humanitarian aid in conflict zones.
The memorandum includes an enforcement mechanism detailing processes to hold violating countries accountable, including by potentially suspending any further transfers of defense articles or defense services.
The senators decried “the continued excessively burdensome restrictions erected by the Netanyahu Government on the flow of aid from land crossings into Gaza and within Gaza,” urging Biden “to adhere to the plain meaning and intent of NSM-20 and use this tool to secure the necessary delivery of aid into and throughout Gaza thereby bringing the Netanyahu Government into compliance with its terms.”
“The current circumstances on the ground in Gaza, the many statements made by the President and other senior Administration officials, and the recent IPC assessment that ‘famine is imminent’ – make it abundantly clear that Netanyahu’s government is not doing nearly enough to allow aid to reach starving and otherwise desperate people in Gaza,” they continue.
“As a result, we believe it would be inconsistent with the letter and spirit of NSM-20 to find that assurances made by the Netanyahu Government meet the required ‘credible and reliable’ standard at this time. Such a determination would also establish an unacceptable precedent for the application of NSM-20 in other situations around the world,” they add.
Signatories include Sens. Chris Van Hollen, Dick Durbin, Tim Kaine, Brian Schatz, Elizabeth Warren, Jeff Merkley, Peter Welch, Martin Heinrich, Tom Carper, Ben Ray Luján, Bernie Sanders, Mazie Hirono, Ed Markey, Tina Smith, Laphonza Butler, Jon Ossoff and Chris Murphy.
The Prophecy Blog 