Netanyahu contradicts USA on Gaza war – The night at a glance
Published: Friday, Jan 19th 2024, 07:01
Updated At: Friday, Jan 19th 2024, 07:01
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In open contradiction to the USA, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has rejected a Palestinian state after the end of the Gaza war. With a view to a two-state solution at the urging of the USA, Netanyahu said on Thursday: "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 Huthi had prepared for an imminent bombardment in the Red Sea, according to reports. US President Joe Biden declared that the military strikes would continue until the Houthi ceased their attacks on international shipping in the Red Sea.
Pentagon spokeswoman: We don't want war
Asked whether the US attacks against the Huthi were having an effect, Biden told reporters in Washington: "Well, when you say effect, are they stopping the Huthi? No. Are they continuing? Yes." However, the US is not at war in Yemen, US Department of Defense spokeswoman Sabrina Singh said on Thursday. "We don't want a war. We do not believe we are at war," said the Pentagon spokeswoman. The Huthi are the ones who continue to fire cruise missiles and anti-ship missiles at innocent sailors and merchant ships in the Red Sea, she said. "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 the way to a war in Yemen. "Blood has been spilled, the scale of the attacks is there, the Huthi will not back down now," the newspaper quoted him as saying on Thursday. Like the Islamist Hamas in the Gaza Strip and the Lebanese Hezbollah militia, the Houthi are part of the so-called "Axis of Resistance", a network of groups fighting against Israel that are supported by Iran. The state leadership in Tehran denies the Jewish state the right to exist.
Netanyahu rejects Palestinian state
At the World Economic Forum in Davos this week, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken made it clear that a lasting solution for the region must include the vision of a Palestinian state. Otherwise, Israel would not have any real security. Many Arab and Muslim countries had recently changed their attitude towards Israel and were now interested in stable relations. Israel must decide in which direction it wants to develop.
However, Israel's right-wing head of government Netanyahu rejects the vision of a Palestinian state. "From every area from which we withdraw, we get terror, terrible terror," Netanyahu said at a press conference on Thursday. This had happened in southern Lebanon, the Gaza Strip and parts of the West Bank. Therefore, he said, Israel must retain "security control" over the entire area west of the Jordan River - i.e. Israel, the West Bank and the Gaza Strip - in any future agreement or even if no agreement is reached.
More rockets from Syria on Israel
Meanwhile, according to Israeli military sources, three rockets were fired from Syria into the Golan Heights on Thursday evening. The missiles from the neighboring country hit open ground near a community in the area as well as a country road, Israel's army said in response to an inquiry. According to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights in London, militias cooperating with Hezbollah in Lebanon fired the shells in the direction of the part of the Golan Heights occupied by Israel.
Another exchange of fire on Israel's northern border
There were also renewed exchanges of fire on the border between Lebanon and Israel. On Thursday, several rockets were fired at Israeli towns and communities on the border with the neighboring country to the north, according to Israel's military. Army fighter jets then attacked terror infrastructure and Hezbollah militia posts in southern Lebanon, it said.
Since the beginning of the Gaza war following the Hamas massacre in Israel on October 7, which left 1,200 dead, 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 have already been casualties on both sides. Internationally, there are growing concerns about the Gaza war spreading to the entire region. In Davos, Israel's President Izchak Herzog warned that Iran and the militias it supports were endangering global stability.
What will be important on Friday
Meanwhile, fighting between the Israeli armed forces and Hamas continues in the Gaza Strip. The humanitarian situation for the Palestinian civilian population continues to deteriorate.
©Keystone/SDA
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