Over the weekend, Netanyahu has sparred publicly – if indirectly – with US president Joe Biden, who for months has offered Israel almost unconditional support for its war in Gaza, at considerable political cost to his own administration, both in America and beyond.
Netanyahu’s spokesman claimed that in a phone call with Biden, the Israeli leader told the US president that his country’s security needs left no space for a sovereign Palestinian state.
“In his conversation with President Biden, prime minister Netanyahu reiterated his policy that, after Hamas is destroyed, Israel must retain security control over Gaza to ensure that Gaza will no longer pose a threat to Israel, a requirement that contradicts the demand for Palestinian sovereignty,” a statement from the Israeli prime minister’s office said.
It was a barely veiled shot at Biden, who just hours earlier had said the same conversation left him confident an independent Palestine was feasible when Netanyahu was in power.