The decision to suspend the transfer of US heavy weapons to Israel should have stood secret. According to the revelations of Washington Post, American President Joe Biden wanted to use it to silently send a message to the Jewish state. Tel Aviv, however, leaked the news, forcing the White House to confirm it and create tensions between the two countries.
“We weren’t trying to get the issue out in the open, we were trying to deal with it diplomatic way”, explained a US official, underlining how Biden’s intention was to only block a shipment that should have been delivered to his ally within the next few weeks. However, the fact that the move by Washington’s number one was made public forced the US administration to change its posture and widen the suspension of deliveries. A decision, this, which will be addressed in the next meeting of the Israeli war cabinet, together with the situation a Gaza and on the border with the Lebanon.
According to what was declared by an Israeli official, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu assured Biden during the phone call on Sunday 5 May that the Jewish State “will fight with tooth and nail if necessary, and he meant it”. This is a position also shared by Defense Minister Yoav Gallant: “I say to Israel’s enemies and its best friends that the State of Israel cannot be subjugated, nor can the IDF and the Ministry of Defense. Israel will remain standing, it will reach its own goalswill strike Hamas, destroy Hezbollah and bring safety”.
Several anonymous sources have also reported on Axios that the Tel Aviv government would have informed the American administration of the fact that the decision to temporarily suspend the shipment of war material puts the interviews for a ceasefire agreement. The White House opted for this move in order to dissuade the Jewish authorities from launching a large-scale attack against Rafah, a city on the border with Egypt where approximately 1.5 million of Palestinians and the last bastion of Hamas in the Strip.
For the moment, the IDF has only conducted a limited incursion into the area, occupying the pass which allows transit in the Sinai and the eastern districts of the urban agglomeration in an attempt to put pressure on Hamas and force it to abandon its rigid positions at the negotiating table.
This is an objective which for the moment does not appear to have been achieved, given that the last round of talks in Cairo ended with the terrorists’ assent to a draft agreement different from the one already approved by Tel Aviv in which probably the ones are still present conditions which Israel is not willing to accept.
