Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu addressed the Knesset plenum on Monday, describing in no uncertain terms how the Biden administration had dictated terms that crippled Israel’s war effort.
“The US had reservations and suggested that we not enter Gaza,” said Netanyahu in the Knesset plenum on Monday. “It had reservations about entering Gaza City, Khan Younis, and, most critically, strongly opposed entry into Rafah.”
The Biden administration delayed weapons shipments to Israel to enforce its Rafah initiative. Hamas used the US policy as a shield, launching deadly rocket attacks from Rafah. When the IDF finally did enter Rafah, it discovered extensive tunnel networks and massive caches of weapons. Hostages were being held in Rafah, some in civilian houses. On September 1, 2024, the IDF recovered the bodies of six civilian hostages kidnapped during the Nova festival massacre from a tunnel in Rafah. Autopsies revealed that they had been killed from close range just a short while before their rescue. On 17 October, Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar was killed by IDF forces in Rafah.
“President Biden told me that if we go in, we will be alone,” Netanyahu said. “He also said that he would stop shipments of important weapons to us. And so he did. A few days later, [US Secretary of State Antony] Blinken appeared and repeated the same things and I told him — we will fight with our nails.”
Breaking: Israel Prime Minister @netanyahu today: “Biden told me that if we enter Rafah, he will stop critical weapons shipments to Israel, which he did. Blinken came here to warn about the same. I told him: ‘If we have to, we will fight with our fingernails!’”
Netanyahu also told the Knesset that the Biden administration had warned Israel not to respond to two direct attacks by Iran.
“Again, we were told by our friend that there is no need to respond,” Netanyahu said from the podium. “And I said that sitting and not reacting is not acceptable, and we responded.”
On 13 April 2024, Iran launched attacks against Israel, firing 170 drones, over 30 cruise missiles, and more than 120 ballistic missiles toward Israel. The attack was the largest drone strike in history and was intended to overwhelm anti-aircraft defenses. The attack was largely ineffective.
Again, on 1 October, Iran launched about 200 ballistic missiles at Israel in at least two waves, representing the largest single attack during the ongoing war since October 7, 2023.
It was later revealed that Iranian officials communicated their intent to launch a massive attack against Israel with the intention that this message be conveyed to the United States. Through these same diplomatic channels, the US expressed its tacit consent on the condition that any action it took had to be “within certain limits.”
Netanyahu told the Knesset that despite BIden’s warnings, Israel responded to the Iranian attacks, inflicting “real damage on Iran’s ballistic missile production capability.”
The IAF attacked Iran in April, destroying one of four Russian-supplied S-300 surface-to-air missile defense batteries around Tehran. In October, Israel destroyed the remaining three batteries. It caused serious damage to Iran’s ballistic missile production capabilities and its ability to produce solid fuel, which is used in long-range ballistic missiles.
“It’s not a secret, it has been published,” Netanyahu said. “There is a specific component in their nuclear program that was hit in this attack.”
Last week, the Axios news site reported that Israel destroyed an active nuclear weapons research facility in Parchin during last month’s attack on Iran.
Netanyahu emphasized that Israel would continue pursuing policies in its national and security interests, even if they conflicted with the US government’s expressed desire.
“The most important thing is not [the deal that] will be laid on paper,” Netanyahu said. “Even if there is a paper [setting out an agreement], worthy though it may be, we will be required, in order to ensure our security in the north (of Israel), to systematically carry out operations — not only against Hezbollah’s attacks, which could come. Even if there is a ceasefire, nobody can guarantee it will hold. So it’s not only our reaction, a preventive reaction, a reaction in the wake of attack, but also the capacity to prevent Hezbollah from strengthening.”
“We will not allow Hezbollah to return to the state it was in on October 6, 2023,” he stressed.
Netanyahu’s address comes two weeks after President Trump emerged victorious in the US presidential elections, marking a new chapter in US-Israel relations.
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