Netanyahu In Blistering Rebuke Of US Post-War Plans: "Israel Will Control Entire Area From The River To The Sea"
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has announced that he informed the White House that he firmly opposes the establishment of a Palestinian state in any postwar scenario, after also saying that the operation to eliminate Hamas could continue all the way into 2025.
In statements that run directly counter to what the US has expressed (namely a desire for a two state solution), Netanyahu said, according to the widely circulated Hebrew translator's words, "In any future arrangement … Israel needs security control all territory west of the Jordan. This collides with the idea of sovereignty. What can you do?"
Netanyahu: "In the future, the state of Israel has to control the entire area from the river to the sea." pic.twitter.com/s6iqEUrKcE
— In Context (@incontextmedia) January 18, 2024
The Israeli leader added that he had "told this to the Americans" and then stressed, "The prime minister needs to be capable of saying no to our friends."
He also said Israel seeks a "decisive victory" over Hamas and that war is "not about the lack of a Palestinian state but the existence of a Jewish one."
"Every area that we evacuate, we receive terrible terror against us. It happened in south Lebanon, in Gaza, and also Judea and Samaria... and therefore I clarify that in any other arrangement in the future the state of Israel has to control the entire area from the river to the sea."
"This truth I say to my American friends." He emphasized that questions of Israeli sovereignty can't be "imposed" from the outside, even from the "best of friends" - in a reference to Washington.
The prime minister's word choice of "from the river to the sea" is interesting given that this is the very phrase often used by groups opposed to the state of Israel and pro-Palestine supporters. Critics have called it a pro-Hamas, antisemitic and pro-genocidal slogan when shouted at pro-Palestine demonstrations. Netanyahu without doubt used the phrase specifically to show that Israel doesn't plan to give even an inch of statehood to the Palestinians.
It has for weeks been clear that Israeli and US officials have been clashing on a vision for the Hamas "day after". The US has called for the Palestinian Authority (PA) to eventually resume control of the Gaza Strip, but the Netanyahu government has firmly rejected this, calling the PA terror sympathizers, and saying this won't solve Israel's security problems.
Tel Aviv's resistance to the United States' more "moderate" stance has been deeply awkward for the Biden administration, given it is the US that has given the weaponry and support Israel needs to execute the war in the first place, which has taken a reported over 24,000 Palestinian lives, with the majority of these being civilians.