Israel’s ambassador to the UN rejected this Thursday (05/09/2024) US President Joe Biden’s threat to stop certain weapons supplies to his country if he invades the city of Rafah, in the south of the Gaza Strip.
“It is a difficult and very disappointing statement from a president to whom we have been grateful since the beginning of the war,” Gilad Erdan told his country’s public radio station, in what is Israel’s first official reaction.
“It is quite clear that any pressure on Israel, any restrictions imposed on it, even from close allies concerned about our interests, is interpreted by our enemies” and “gives them hope,” he added.
“If Israel is prevented from entering an area as important as the center of Rafah, where there are thousands of terrorists, hostages and Hamas leaders, how is the objective of annihilating” the Palestinian terrorist group supposed to be achieved? asked the Israeli ambassador.
“In the end, the State of Israel will do what it believes it must do for the safety of its citizens,” he insisted.
Biden set for the first time on Wednesday the conditions for the delivery of weapons to Israel by the United States, a historic ally and its first military support.
If Israeli soldiers “enter Rafah, I will not supply the weapons that have always been used (…) against the cities,” he said in an interview with the CNN channel.
rr (afp/times of israel)
