The USA has so far been Israel’s most important supporter in the Gaza war. But Netanyahu’s only response to Washington’s push for a two-state solution is a clear “no.” The overview.
Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has rejected a Palestinian state after the end of the Gaza war, in open contradiction to the USA. Referring to a two-state solution at the urging of the US, Netanyahu said: “Israel’s prime minister must be able to say ‘no’ when necessary, even to our best friends.”
Meanwhile, the US attacked positions of the Iran-backed Houthi militia in Yemen for the fifth time in a week. Two anti-ship missiles were hit, which the Houthis were preparing for an impending shelling in the Red Sea, it said. US President Joe Biden said military strikes would continue until the Houthis stopped their attacks on international shipping in the Red Sea.
Pentagon spokeswoman: We don’t want war
Asked whether U.S. attacks against the Houthis were having an impact, Biden told reporters in Washington: “Well, when you talk about impact, are they stopping the Houthis? No. Are they continuing? Yes.” The US is not in a war in Yemen, said US Department of Defense spokeswoman Sabrina Singh. “We don’t want war. We don’t believe we are at war,” the Pentagon spokeswoman said. The Houthis are the ones who continue to fire cruise missiles and anti-ship missiles at innocent sailors and merchant ships in the Red Sea. “What we are doing with our partners is self-defense,” Singh continued.
Meanwhile, Middle East expert Vali Nasr from the School of Advanced International Studies at Johns Hopkins University told the Wall Street Journal that the US is well on its way to getting into a war in Yemen. “Blood has been shed, the scale of the attacks is there, the Houthis will not back down now,” the newspaper quoted him as saying. Like the Islamist Hamas in the Gaza Strip and the Lebanese Hezbollah militia, the Houthis belong to the so-called “Axis of Resistance,” a network of groups in the fight against Israel that are supported by Iran. The government in Tehran denies the Jewish state the right to exist.
Netanyahu rejects Palestinian state
US Secretary of State Antony Blinken made it clear at the World Economic Forum in Davos this week that a lasting solution for the region must include the vision of a Palestinian state. Otherwise, Israel will not have any real security. Many Arab and Muslim countries have recently changed their attitude towards Israel and are now interested in stable relations. Israel must decide in which direction it wants to develop.
However, Israel’s right-wing Prime Minister Netanyahu rejects the vision of a Palestinian state. “From every area we withdraw from, we get terror, terrible terror,” Netanyahu said at a news conference. This happened in southern Lebanon, the Gaza Strip and parts of the West Bank. Therefore, in any future agreement or even if an agreement is not reached, Israel must retain “security control” over the entire area west of the Jordan – i.e. Israel, the West Bank and the Gaza Strip.
Rockets from Syria to Israel again
Meanwhile, according to Israeli military reports, three rockets were fired from Syria at the Golan Heights in the evening. The Israeli army said that the bullets from the neighboring country struck both in open areas near a community in the area and on a country road. According to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights in London, militias working with Hezbollah in Lebanon fired the projectiles towards the Israeli-occupied part of the Golan Heights.
There is also another exchange of fire on Israel’s northern border
Mutual shelling also broke out again on the border between Lebanon and Israel. The Israeli military said there were several rockets fired at Israeli towns and communities on the border with its neighbor to the north. Army fighter jets then attacked terrorist infrastructure and Hezbollah militia posts in southern Lebanon, it said.
Since the beginning of the Gaza war after the Hamas massacre in Israel on October 7th with 1,200 deaths, there have been repeated confrontations on the border between Israel and Lebanon between the Israeli army and the Hezbollah militia, which, like Hamas, is allied with Iran . There were already deaths on both sides. Internationally, concerns are growing about the Gaza war spreading to the entire region. Israeli President Izchak Herzog warned in Davos that Iran and the militias it supports are endangering global stability.
What is important today
Meanwhile, fighting continues between Israeli forces and Hamas in the Gaza Strip. The humanitarian situation for the Palestinian civilian population continues to worsen.
