Angry statement follows US intelligence report that cast doubt on prime minister’s viability as a leader
Israel has accused Joe Biden of attempting to overthrow Benjamin Netanyahu’s government as the rift between the two allies deepens.
Israeli media on Wednesday circulated a statement by an unnamed “top Israeli official” that claimed the US president was trying to undermine the administration by demanding that a ground operation in Gaza’s south not go ahead.
Some broadcasters suggested the statement – which followed a US intelligence report this week that suggested the Netanyahu government could be replaced by a more moderate one – came from the Israeli prime minister himself.
“Israeli citizens, and not anyone else, elect the prime minister,” the statement said.
“Israel is not a protectorate of the US but an independent and democratic country whose citizens are the ones who choose the government.
“We expect our friends to act to overthrow the terror regime of Hamas and not the elected government in Israel.”
Israeli media did not name the source but the country’s Channel 12 described the statement as coming from “the most senior Israeli political source you can imagine”.
Joe Biden was welcomed by Benjamin Netanyahu when he visited Israel in October, but their relationship has come under strain since.
The extraordinary outburst appears to have been triggered by the US intelligence report casting doubt on Mr Netanyahu’s “viability as a leader”.
The Biden administration has made clear its frustration with Mr Netanyahu’s plans to mount a ground offensive in Gaza’s Rafah, the only pocket of land in the territory largely unaffected by fighting.
On Wednesday, Mr Netanyahu received an unexpected boost when Benny Gantz, a member of the coalition government tipped as the next prime minister, backed the operation in Rafah.
“The entire war cabinet is united over the need to continue the ground operation, including in Rafah, and to dismantle Hamas’s military and governmental capabilities,” he said in parliament.
But Mr Gantz, who undertook a foreign policy trip earlier this month, also called on the Israeli leadership to be smart and create “humanitarian solutions” before pressing ahead with the offensive.
Mr Biden has been personally attempting to pressure Mr Netanyahu into scrapping the offensive on Rafah.
Last week, he was caught on a “hot mic” after his State of the Union address saying the Israeli leader would have “come-to-Jesus meeting” with him, which gave rise to speculation that he might make some of the US military aid conditional on the IDF’s operations in Gaza.
In Gaza’s north, at least 20 children have died of malnourishment and dehydration in recent days, according to local health officials. The reports were verified by the UN.
Plight of children worsening, says aid worker
Arvind Das, an aid worker from the International Rescue Committee who returned from a mission to northern Gaza last week, said the situation had deteriorated in February compared to his first visit in January.
“We saw it from day one – I saw it at the hospital first,” he said. “Since then the situation only got worse. Now I see it everywhere: in the camps, in the shelters, at hospitals.”
He described visiting Al-Aqsa Hospital in Gaza City, seeing children “completely, severely malnourished”.
He also spoke of worsening conditions for pregnant women in Gaza, including the relatively less-affected south. He said women have to live and give birth in squalor and cramped conditions with “no privacy, no dignity”.
LINK: Joe Biden is trying to overthrow Benjamin Netanyahu, Israeli government claims (telegraph.co.uk)
