The rift between Israel and the United States - its closest ally - became apparent on December 12, when President Biden warned that Israeli leaders were losing international support for their war in Gaza and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu dismissed the American vision of the post-war Middle East, says The New York Times.
As Israel's attack on Gaza kills civilians at a record pace, Biden warned in an address in Washington that the international community is turning against the Israeli government.
"They're starting to lose that support," Biden said, and said Netanyahu must make changes to his government, which is the most far-right in Israel's history.
So far, the United States has supported Israel in both action and rhetoric—supporting the assault on Gaza, rejecting calls for a cease-fire at the United Nations, and authorizing the sale of thousands of tank shells to the Israelis.
But that staunch support appears to be softening. Biden's comments represent the sharpest break yet in the language the United States has used toward Israel since the start of the war following Hamas's devastating October 7 attack on Israel.
Netanyahu, addressing Israelis in a video before Biden's speech, ruled out any role for the Palestinian Authority in Gaza after the war ends. The United States is pushing for this option as a two-state solution.
"There are disagreements about the 'day after Hamas,'" Netanyahu said in a video message posted on social media, "and I hope we will reach an agreement here as well."
"After the great sacrifice of our civilians and our soldiers, I will not allow into Gaza those who teach terrorism, support terrorism and finance terrorism," he said. "Gaza will be neither Hamastan nor Fatahstan". Fatah is the political faction rivaling Hamas that controls the Palestinian Authority, which was expelled from Gaza in 2007 but still rules parts of the Israeli-occupied West Bank./BGNES
