Ben Gvir and his supporters perpetuate the differences between Tel Aviv and Washington
At a time when the Minister of National Security, Itamar Ben Gvir, attacked US President Joe Biden and said that he “does not support Israel and gives aid to Gaza,” extremist settlers supporting the minister continued to carry out attacks against the Palestinians, concentrated in the West Bank.
Ben Gvir’s statements and the movements of his supporters highlighted the Israeli-American disagreement regarding dealing with developments in the war in Gaza, which led Israeli politicians to describe them as “harmful” to relations between Washington and Tel Aviv. Reports indicated that the Israeli police are also seeking to curb the movements of extremists.
Ben Gvir said, in an interview published by the Wall Street Journal on Sunday, that Biden “instead of giving us his full support, is busy providing humanitarian aid and fuel (to Gaza) that goes to (Hamas).” He continued: “If Trump were in power, the behavior of the United States would be completely different.”
Ben Gvir added that he has a plan to “encourage the people of Gaza to voluntarily migrate to places around the world,” by giving them financial incentives, describing this as “the realistic humanitarian thing” that can be done. According to what was reported by the Arab World News Agency.
Ben Gvir said that his plan for Gaza in the future is to “repopulate the destroyed coastal strip with Israeli settlements, while the Palestinians will be offered financial incentives to leave.”
He claimed that he knew from his discussions with Palestinians in the West Bank, and from the intelligence information he received in his capacity as a minister, that “the Palestinians would be open to this idea.” He went on to say that holding a global conference might help find countries willing to receive “Palestinian refugees.”
He stressed that he would oppose any deal with Hamas that would allow the release of thousands of Palestinians detained “on terrorism charges,” or end the war before “Hamas is completely defeated.”
Regarding Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, Ben Gvir said that “he is at a crossroads… and he must choose the direction he will go.” He added: “Netanyahu currently has two options: either to increase Israel’s international isolation if he continues the war, or to potentially lose power” if Ben Gvir withdraws the six lawmakers in the “Jewish Power” party he leads from the ruling coalition.
Harmful statements
A number of Israeli ministers criticized Ben Gvir for his rude statements, and said that the Americans “will view Israel as ungrateful because of him.” State Minister and member of the War Command Council, Benny Gantz, said that Ben Gvir’s statements were “irresponsible and harmful to Israel’s strategic relations.”
Gantz denounced the statements of his colleague in the government, saying, “It is permissible for there to be disagreements, even with our largest and most important ally, but they must take place in the relevant bodies and not through irresponsible statements in the media that harm the State of Israel’s strategic relations, the state’s security, and the war effort in this period.” ».
The Israelis prefer Benny Gantz as prime minister to succeed Benjamin Netanyahu (AFP)
Gantz added, “The prime minister must arrest the Minister of National Security, who, instead of taking care of internal security issues, is causing enormous damage to Israel’s foreign relations.”
In the same critical vein, opposition leader Yair Lapid said that Ben Gvir’s statements “are a direct target of Israel’s international standing, a direct target of the war effort, harm Israel’s security, and basically prove that he does not understand anything about foreign policy.” He continued: “I would have called on the prime minister to restrain him, but Netanyahu has no control over the extremists in his government.”
international punishment
In turn; The Palestinian Ministry of Foreign Affairs condemned Ben Gvir’s statements, and considered them “colonial, racist, and open incitement to complete the annihilation of the people of Gaza and expel them from their land by force.”
She said in a statement that the Israeli Minister of National Security “wants every Palestinian citizen in Gaza to die of starvation and thirst if he escapes death by bombing and destruction.”
The Palestinian Foreign Ministry considered that Ben Gvir’s statements represented “a blatant challenge to the US administration and its declared positions, the international consensus, and the decisions of the International Court of Justice and the UN Security Council regarding protecting Palestinian civilians and securing their basic needs.”
The ministry called for “international sanctions” to be imposed on Ben Gvir as a “direct threat to the security and stability of the region.”
It stated that Ben Gvir “does not give any consideration to the humanity of more than two million Palestinians living in the Gaza Strip, calls for preventing aid from reaching them, and calls for deepening the miserable, inhumane conditions in the Gaza Strip to the point that it becomes unlivable.”
Extremists
And in an effort; Apparently, to control the level of violence of extremist settlers supporting Ben Gvir, who ex officio leads the Israeli police, the Israeli security services have formed (non-police) teams that intend to restrain the settlers.
Security sources told Israeli media that they are aware of the danger of extremist settlers, but they consider them “a small minority that enjoys media promotion that far exceeds its strength, and causes great harm to Israel in the international community.” Therefore, it decided to confront it and enforce the law with it, with the aim of “preventing the deterioration from turning into complete chaos in the West Bank,” and gave the “Border Guard Forces” the task of enforcing the rule of law.
Squads of settlers are carrying out bloody attacks against Palestinians, including attacking towns, smashing and burning cars, throwing stones at homes, destroying crops, expelling them from pastures, seizing lands, establishing settlement outposts…etc., under the protection of the Israeli army. Some of his soldiers even joined the settlers in their attacks.
Settlers transport building materials towards a settlement outpost in the village of Al-Jabaa in the West Bank during January 2023 (AFP)
It seems that an international awareness of the seriousness of settler attacks has recently grown in European countries and the United States, which began taking punitive measures against the settlers directly. It collects information about them and prevents them from entering, which disturbed the leaders of the Israeli army.
At the end of the week, political sources revealed that the United States of America called on the Israeli authorities: Political and military, by providing “urgent clarifications” regarding human rights violations committed by Israeli army forces and settlers against Palestinians in the West Bank.
Army leaders were disturbed by Washington’s warnings that these practices constitute a violation of the “Leahy Law,” which stipulates “a ban on the supply of American weapons to armies that violate American standards for preserving human rights.”
A military source told the Hebrew newspaper “Israel Hayom” on Sunday, “The purpose of the (Leahy Law), which was approved by Congress in 1997, is to prevent the United States from getting involved in serious crimes committed by foreign forces that it supports.” In light of the filing of lawsuits against Israel in the Hague Tribunals for genocide and war crimes, and in light of the war on Gaza, American fears have increased.
The sources confirmed to the newspaper that “the American request was accompanied by a warning that may result in preventing Israeli army forces operating in the West Bank from receiving security assistance from the United States, if the explanations are not convincing to Washington.”
According to the newspaper; Washington delivered its warning to Tel Aviv regarding the Israeli army’s violations more than a month ago, and said that the Israeli Ministry of Foreign Affairs is aware of this issue, and stated that “the International Law Department of the Israeli Military Prosecution and other legal bodies are in contact with the American side to provide answers to the cases in which Washington has asked Tel Aviv to provide clarifications regarding the matter, which the Americans believe has a high probability of violating the Leahy Law.
About 10 days ago, the United States called on Israel to conduct an “urgent investigation” into the circumstances of the death of the Palestinian boy Tawfiq Hijazi (17 years old), who holds American citizenship. US State Department spokesman Vedant Patel told reporters: “We were clear about the tragic escalation of violence in the West Bank, and we call on all parties to avoid escalation.”
2024-02-05 06:56:42
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