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‘We Are Determined to Do This’: Netanyahu Reaffirms Intention to Launch Rafah Offensive After Biden Expresses ‘Deep’ Concern
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu addresses the Conference of Presidents of Major American Jewish Organizations, amid the ongoing conflict between Israel and Hamas, in Jerusalem, Feb. 18, 2024. Photo: REUTERS/Ronen Zvulun
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Tuesday reaffirmed his intention to launch a military offensive into Rafah — the Hamas terror group’s last stronghold in Gaza — despite US President Joe Biden’s warning against such a move just a day earlier.
“We are determined to complete the elimination of Hamas,” Netanyahu said in introductory remarks to the Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee of Israel’s parliament, known as the Knesset. “This requires the elimination of the remaining battalions in Rafah and, of course, the 1.5 battalions in the camps in the center. We are determined to do this.”
Netanyahu’s comments came one day after Biden told Netanyahu that he has “deep concerns about the prospect of Israel conducting a major ground operation in Rafah, where more than one million displaced civilians are currently seeking shelter after fleeing fighting in the north,” according to a White House readout regarding their conversation.
The Israeli premier acknowledged the concern, saying, “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. We see no way to eliminate Hamas militarily without destroying these remaining battalions.”
At the same time, he said, “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.”
The latest back and forth between Netanyahu and the Biden administration comes amid rising tensions between the leaders.
After US Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY), who is Jewish, attacked Netanyahu on the Senate floor as a principal obstacle to peace between Israel and the Palestinians — and called for new elections in Israel to oust Netanyahu — Biden called it a “good speech.”
Many observers saw Schumer’s commentary on Israel’s domestic political affairs as inappropriate.
The Conference of Presidents of Major American Jewish Organizations wrote in a statement that “at a time when Israel is fighting an existential war, on the embers of the 1,200 innocents massacred on Oct. 7, it is not a time for public criticisms that serve only to empower the detractors of Israel, and which foster greater divisiveness, when unity is so desperately needed.”
Netanyahu also addressed Schumer’s comments during an interview on CNN.
“It’s inappropriate to go to a sister democracy and try to replace the elected leadership there,” Netanyahu said. “That’s something the Israeli public does on its own.”
White House national security adviser Jake Sullivan called it “an interesting irony” that “the prime minister [is] speaking on American television about his concerns about Americans interfering in Israeli politics,” noting that he was asked by a reporter whether Americans should “be speaking into Israeli politics, which, in fact, we don’t do nearly as much as they speak into ours.”
“But that’s not a constructive answer to your question. Just an observation,” he added.
Biden has been under pressure from some of his political allies to limit future support for Israel, particularly if it moves forward with an operation in Rafah to root out Hamas.
Earlier this month a group of 37 Democratic lawmakers sent a letter to the White House suggesting an Israeli invasion of Rafah may violate its outlined conditions on aid. The lawmakers wrote: “While we continue to urge Israel to avoid an expanded operation in Rafah, we share your [Biden’s] obvious concern about the absence of a credible plan for the safety and support of the more than one million civilians sheltering in Rafah.”
They concluded such an operation “should not be supported by US taxpayer-funded assistance” when it “likely” violates “specific principles outlined” by the Biden administration.
The tension may start to fizzle out, or it could get stronger when US and Israeli officials meet in Washington, DC in the near future.
According to the White House, “the president and prime minster agreed to have their teams meet soon in Washington to exchange views and discuss alternative approaches that would target key elements of Hamas and secure the Egypt-Gaza border without a major ground operation in Rafah.”
The post ‘We Are Determined to Do This’: Netanyahu Reaffirms Intention to Launch Rafah Offensive After Biden Expresses ‘Deep’ Concern first appeared on Algemeiner.com.
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‘With or Without Russia’s Help’: Iran Pledges to Block South Caucasus Route Opened Up By Peace Deal
U.S. President Donald Trump speaks during a cabinet meeting at the White House in Washington, D.C., U.S., July 8, 2025. Photo: Kevin Lamarque via Reuters Connect.
i24 News – Iran will block the establishment of a US-backed transit corridor in the South Caucasus region with or without Moscow’s help, a senior adviser to Iran’s supreme leader was quoted as saying on Saturday by the Iran International website, one day after the historic peace agreement between Azerbaijan and Armenia.
“Mr. Trump thinks the Caucasus is a piece of real estate he can lease for 99 years,” Ali Akbar Velayati said of the so-called Zangezur corridor, the establishment of which is stipulated in the peace deal unveiled on Friday by US President Donald Trump. The White House said the transit route would facilitate greater exports of energy and other resources.
“This passage will not become a gateway for Trump’s mercenaries — it will become their graveyard,” the Khamenei advisor added.
Baku and Yerevan have been at loggerheads since the late 1980s when Nagorno-Karabakh, a mountainous Azerbaijani region mostly populated by ethnic Armenians, broke away from Azerbaijan with support from Armenia. Azerbaijan took back full control of the region in 2023, prompting or forcing almost all of the territory’s 100,000 ethnic Armenians to flee to Armenia.
Yet that painful history was put to the side on Friday at the White House, as Trump oversaw a signing ceremony, flanked by Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev and Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan.
The peace deal with Azerbaijan—a pro-Western ally of Israel—is expected to pull Armenia out of the Russian and Iranian sphere of influence and could transform the South Caucasus, an energy-producing region neighboring Russia, Europe, Turkey and Iran.
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UK Police Arrest 150 at Protest for Banned Palestine Action Group
People holding signs sit during a rally organised by Defend Our Juries, challenging the British government’s proscription of “Palestine Action” under anti-terrorism laws, in Parliament Square, in London, Britain, August 9, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Jaimi Joy
London’s Metropolitan Police said on Saturday it had arrested 150 people at a protest against Britain’s decision to ban the group Palestine Action, adding it was making further arrests.
Officers made arrests after crowds, waving placards expressing support for the group, gathered in Parliament Square, the force said on X.
Protesters, some wearing black and white Palestinian scarves, chanted “shame on you” and “hands off Gaza,” and held signs such as “I oppose genocide. I support Palestine Action,” video taken by Reuters at the scene showed.
In July, British lawmakers banned Palestine Action under anti-terrorism legislation after some of its members broke into a Royal Air Force base and damaged planes in protest against Britain’s support for Israel.
The ban makes it a crime to be a member of the group, carrying a maximum sentence of 14 years in prison.
The co-founder of Palestine Action, Huda Ammori, last week won a bid to bring a legal challenge against the ban.
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‘No Leniency’: Iran Announces Arrest of 20 ‘Zionist Agents’
Iran’s Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi addresses a special session of the Human Rights Council at the United Nations in Geneva, Switzerland, June 20, 2025. REUTERS/Denis Balibouse
i24 News – Iranian authorities have in recent months arrested 20 people charged with being “Israeli Mossad operatives,” the judiciary said, adding that the Islamic regime will mete out the harshest punishments.
“The judiciary will show no leniency toward spies and agents of the Zionist regime, and with firm rulings, will make an example of them all,” spokesperson Asghar Jahangiri told Iranian media. However, it is understood that an unspecified number of detainees were released, apparently after the charges against them could not be substantiated.
The Islamic Republic was left reeling by a devastating 12-day war with Israel earlier in the summer that left a significant proportion of its military arsenal in ruins and dealt a serious setback to its uranium enrichment program. The fallout included an uptick in executions of Iranians convicted of spying for Israel, with at least eight death sentences carried out in recent months. Hit with international sanctions, the country is in dire economic straights, with frequent energy outages and skyrocketing unemployment.
In recent weeks Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi affirmed that Tehran cannot give up on its nuclear enrichment program even as it was severely damaged during the war.
“It is stopped because, yes, damages are serious and severe. But obviously we cannot give up of enrichment because it is an achievement of our own scientists. And now, more than that, it is a question of national pride,” the official told Fox News.