“If we have to, we’ll fight with our nails”: Netanyahu’s message to Biden after he threatened to stop US arms deliveries

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu delivered, in a speech on the eve of Independence Day, a response to the warning of US President Joe Biden who threatened to stop some arms deliveries to Israel if it attacks Rafah, saying that his country is prepared to withstand a alone if necessary.

“As I have already said, if we have to, we will fight tooth and nail,” Netanyahu said in a video statement. “But we have much more than our nails, and with that power of the spirit, with the help of God, together we will win!”, he added, according to Reuters, taken by Agerpres.

If Israel has to “stand alone”, it will fight “alone”, said Benjamin Netanyahu, according to a statement.

“We are on the eve of Independence Day. In the War of Independence, 76 years ago, we were few against many. We had no weapons, there was an arms embargo for Israel, but with the greatness of spirit, courage and unity among us, we won” , said the Israeli prime minister, quoted by EFE.

Israel will celebrate Independence Day on May 14, which marks the creation of the State of Israel in 1948, which Palestinians call the Nakba (‘disaster’ in Arabic).

“Today we are much stronger. We are determined and united to defeat our enemy… If we have to be alone, we will be alone. We will fight tooth and nail (…) We will win together,” Netanyahu emphasized in -a video message broadcast on its channels.

Although he did not mention it directly, Netanyahu’s message – five days before Independence Day – was in response to comments made by Biden on Wednesday, who said in a CNN interview that if Israeli troops invade Rafah, the US will stop sending weapons offensive such as artillery and shells for the army, although it will continue to provide defensive material for the Iron Dome anti-missile system, in line with its commitment to Israel’s defense.

The Israeli army has the ammunition it needs for operations in Rafah and other planned operations, the spokesman for the Israeli Defense Forces (IDF), Rear Admiral Daniel Hagari, said on Thursday.

Israel began the operation on Monday in Rafah, although it insists that these are selective raids in the eastern part of this city, at the southern end of the Gaza Strip and where about 1.5 million displaced people live, more than half of the population of the Gaza Strip, it notes EFE.

An army spokesman indicated that since that day Israel had eliminated about 50 “terrorists” and that about 10 tunnel mouths had been found, in addition to the fact that about 150,000 people had already fled the city, though not they have a safe place to go.

President Joe Biden believes that a major Israeli operation in Rafah will not contribute to the country’s goal of defeating the Palestinian militant group Hamas in Gaza, the White House said on Thursday, quoted by Reuters.

White House national security spokesman John Kirby said Hamas had been pressured significantly by Israel and that there were better ways to go after what was left of the group’s leadership than an operation with significant risk to civilians. .

“The argument that we are somehow distancing ourselves from Israel or that we are not willing to help it defeat Hamas does not correspond to the facts,” he said.

Kirby added that the US and Israel are still conducting consultations on alternative paths to a major ground operation in Rafah.

The current round of negotiations in Cairo on a possible deal to release the hostages has apparently ended without a resolution to the differences, a senior Israeli official said Thursday. Israel will continue its operation in Rafah as planned, the same official added, quoted by Reuters.

Publisher: MI

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