By Jacob Kornbluh March 12, 2024

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu criticized President Joe Biden and other world leaders Tuesday for saying they support Israel’s war against Hamas but opposing a ground operation in Rafah.

“You cannot say you support Israel’s goal of destroying Hamas, and then oppose Israel when it takes the actions necessary to achieve that goal,” Netanyahu said in the virtual address to 1,600 AIPAC leaders and activists at its national congressional summit in Washington.

Biden has increased the pressure on Israel in recent days, warning that a promised Israeli military operation in the Gazan city of Rafah, without plans for evacuating more than a million displaced Palestinians who are sheltering there, would cross a “red line” for his administration.

Administration officials have been discussing the possibility of imposing conditions on future military aid to Israel if its offensive in the southern Gaza Strip goes forward and risks civilian lives,  Politico reported on Monday. Netanyahu told the AIPAC conference that Israel would protect civilians in Rafah, and that he deeply appreciates Biden’s support and hopes it will continue. “But let me be clear,” he added, “Israel will win this war, no matter what. Israel will finish the job in Rafah, while enabling the civilian population to get out of harm’s way.”

Sen. John Fetterman, a staunchly pro-Israel Democrat from Pennsylvania, who attended the AIPAC gathering, said he opposed the Biden administration’s pressure on Israel. “Israel has the right to fully engage Hamas to its end,” he wrote on X, the social media platform, formerly known as Twitter. “Until Hamas surrenders, frees the hostages, and ends this humanitarian tragedy, I do not support any conditions.”

Netanyahu also took an indirect swipe at Biden for suggesting in a Saturday interview he is “hurting Israel more than helping Israel” with his prosecution of the war in Gaza, where Palestinian health officials put the death toll above 30,000. 

“You cannot say that you oppose Hamas’s strategy of using civilians as human shields, and then blame Israel for the civilian casualties that are the result of this Hamas strategy,” Netanyahu said. “For Israel, every civilian death is a tragedy. For Hamas, every civilian death is a strategy. So it is wrong, it immoral, to hold Israel to a standard for avoiding civilian casualties that no other country on Earth is held to.”

Israel’s opposition leader, Yair Lapid, defended Biden in his remarks to attendees Monday, urging them to “not defend the government, defend the country.” Lapid accused Netanyahu of picking a fight with Biden “for domestic politics.” 

All four congressional leaders — Speaker Mike Johnson, Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, Democratic House leader Hakeem Jeffries and Republican Senate leader Mitch McConnell — spoke at the conference.

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