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White House and Netanyahu Agree They Want Hamas Defeated. Or Do They?

AP Photo/Evan Vucci

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu issued a statement on Tuesday in which he twice repeated that Hamas needed to be fully eliminated and that Israel was committed to doing this. He also patiently explained why this had to be done. Clearly Netanyahu was responding to critics who didn’t believe that Hamas needed to be destroyed utterly, and while he went out of his way to emphasize that he had no disagreements with the Biden regime over the need to eliminate the jihad terror group, there were plenty of reasons to think otherwise.

Netanyahu said, “We have a debate that I will put on the table, and we all know it. US National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan also said this yesterday. We have a debate with the Americans over the need to enter Rafah, not over the need to eliminate Hamas, but the need to enter Rafah.” Sullivan said essentially the same thing at a White House press briefing on Monday: “Now, the President has rejected — and did again today — the strawman that raising questions about Rafah is the same as raising questions about defeating Hamas. That’s just nonsense.”

The disagreement over Rafah, however, was quite heated. “However,” Netanyahu said, “I made it as clear as possible to the President that we are determined to complete the elimination of these battalions in Rafah, and there is no way to do this without a ground incursion.” Sullivan, on the other hand, laid out three reasons why Biden regime apparatchiks think Israel’s entry into Rafah is a terrible idea. 

The first two involved humanitarian concerns, to which Netanyahu responded, “Out of respect for the President, we agreed on a way in which they can present us with their ideas, especially on the humanitarian side; of course, we fully share this desire to facilitate an orderly exit of the population and the providing of humanitarian aid to the civilian population. We have been doing this since the beginning of the war.” He could have added, "contrary to the claims of the UN and the global establishment media, which have been uncritically repeating casualty figures they get from Hamas, despite the terror group’s well-deserved reputation for dishonesty.”

Sullivan also stated that “Rafah is on the border with Egypt, which has voiced its deep alarm over a major military operation there and has even raised questions about its future relationship with Israel as a result of any impending military operation.” But should Egypt really be able to hold Israel’s self-defense hostage? Should the United States, which has been giving Egypt billions over the years, really countenance this? If the U.S. government were defending itself after a major attack, how would it regard demands from a third party to stop defending itself or face a breakdown of friendly relations? 

What’s more, Sullivan’s statements at the White House briefing contained numerous hints that the Biden regime is not really as keen on Israel destroying Hamas as both Sullivan and Netanyahu insist. Sullivan complained that “instead of pause [sic] to reevaluate where things stand in the campaign and what adjustments are needed to achieve long-term success, instead of a focus on stabilizing the areas of Gaza that Israel has cleared so that Hamas does not regenerate and retake terri — territory that Israel has already cleared, the Israeli government is now talking about launching a major military operation in Rafah.”

So apparently what the Biden regime wants Israel to do is stop fighting now and devote its efforts to “stabilizing” the areas of Gaza that it now controls. He seems to want Israel to emulate the U.S. in Afghanistan, spending money on building schools and hospitals and highways, so as to win the hearts and minds of the Afghan people. And just look at how well that worked in Afghanistan. 

Sullivan added that “the President and the Prime Minister also discussed the ongoing negotiations for an immediate ceasefire for several weeks in return for releasing hostages currently being held by Hamas and other militants in Gaza. We would look to build on that ceasefire into something more enduring and use the space created by a cessation of hostilities to surge humanitarian assistance at a vital moment.” Great. But the main people who would “build on that ceasefire” would be Hamas, who would use it to regroup and gather strength. 

        Related: Who's Funding Iran and Hamas? Joe Biden. Isn't That Treason?

Is that what the Biden regime wants? Sullivan also noted that Hamas “could, of course, end this crisis tomorrow if it chose to do so. And as I’ve said before, far too little of the energy and the pressure to end this conflict has been applied to Hamas. We will keep pointing that out.” Wait a minute. “Keep” pointing that out? When has the Biden regime pointed that out before? It was Netanyahu whom Biden hung up on, and called a “bad f**king guy.” Biden said that he had to have a “Come to Jesus moment” not with any Hamas leader, but with Netanyahu. It is Israel that Biden has repeatedly attacked for its defensive action in Gaza, with Biden even parroting Hamas’ bogus casualty figures as if they were fact.

And now the National Security Advisor has the gall to say that the regime is going to keep pointing out that Hamas could end this war tomorrow? Among Biden regime wonks, chutzpah is never in short supply.

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