Despite Biden's warning, Israel's Netanyahu tells TV personality Dr. Phil there's 'no other choice' but to assault Rafah
AP Photo/Evan Vucci, File
- Israel's Netanyahu told Dr. Phil he plans to assault Rafah despite US warnings.
- US President Joe Biden has threatened to cut off weapon shipments if Israel presses forward.
- Netanyahu reaffirmed his goal of eradicating Hamas and returning hostages.
After President Joe Biden threatened to withhold additional weapons if Israeli forces pressed forward with a ground assault of the southern Gaza city of Rafah, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said an assault on Rafah is the only way to defeat Hamas and reiterated that Israel will "stand alone" if it must.
"We will do what we have to do to protect our country, protect our future," Netanyahu said in an interview with television personality Phil McGraw, more commonly known as Dr. Phil, that aired Thursday.
"That means we will defeat Hamas, including in Rafah, we have no other choice," the prime minister said.
On Wednesday, Biden warned that he would cut off weapon shipments to Israel if its military moved forward to attack Rafah, where over one million Palestinian civilians reside and have sought refuge following Israel's ground offensive in the Gaza Strip.
"If they go into Rafah, I'm not supplying the weapons that have been used historically to deal with Rafah, to deal with the cities, to deal with that problem," Biden said in an interview with CNN's Erin Burnett, adding that "we're not going to supply the weapons and the artillery shells have been used."
Last week, the US put a hold on a shipment expected to contain 1,800 2,000-pound bombs and 1,700 500-pound bombs. There is now a possibility that more weapons may be withheld.
Many of these weapons are precision weapons, but they still have the potential to cause significant collateral damage.
"If you want to avoid civilian casualties, you need these weapons rather than imprecise weaponry," Netanyahu argued during the interview, referring to US precision weapons. "If Israel has to stand alone, we we'll stand alone."
When he was asked why his goal is to eradicate all of Hamas and its battalions, Netanyahu claimed that Hamas is trying to blackmail Israel in order to stay in Gaza, establish power, and commit an event similar to the Oct. 7 terror attack.
In addition to eliminating Hamas' battalions, Netanyahu also confirmed that his goals of getting hostages back has not changed since the start of Israel's war with Hamas.
"I've known Joe Biden for many years, 40 years and more. We often had our agreements, but we've had our disagreements. We've been able to overcome them. I hope we can overcome them now," he said.