T. Belman. Bottom line, Israel agreed to all US demands. in exchange for allegedly “no timeline”. In reality he imposed a timeline for “winding down major combat operations in Gaza, withdrawing most ground troops and moving to more targeted operations”.
More IDF soldiers will die as a result. The US has made it very difficult for Israel to destroy Hamas to the extent its needed. Austin limited the fighting to killing Hamas leaders and specifically did not include their entire forces. Lurking in the background is the US commitment to establish a Palestinian state. Israel is against this but has set up a committee to make a report for the day after.
Austin pushes for more Gaza aid, two-state vision; says he’ll convene regional ministers to counter Houthis; Gallant: There’s ‘no clock running,’ war will see ‘end of Hamas’
By AMY SPIRO and JACOB MAGID, TOI 18 December 2023, 9:34 pm
From left: IDF Chief Herzi Halevi, US military chief CQ Brown, US Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, and Defense Minister Yoav Gallant meet in Tel Aviv on December 18, 2023. (Kobi Gideon/GPO)
US Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin visited Tel Aviv on Monday, meeting with both Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Defense Minister Yoav Gallant. He reiterated US backing for Israel’s war against Hamas, while calling to increase humanitarian aid entering the Strip, though he declined to set any timeline on the ongoing Israeli operation.
In public comments, Austin stopped short of making any suggestions about wrapping up the war, and offered little criticism of the Gaza death toll, saying the US will continue to support Israel’s war on Hamas and send it munitions and other defense aid. But he used a press conference to push for movement toward a two-state solution — something the current Israeli government has rejected — and also issued a warning to Israel about growing violence in the West Bank.
During their meeting in Tel Aviv, Austin told Netanyahu that the US “commitment to Israel is unshakeable,” noting that it was his fourth visit to the country as secretary of defense and second since October 7. “America’s commitment to Israel is unwavering and no individual group or state should test our resolve.”
The defense chief, who was accompanied by new US Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Charles Q. Brown, said that when it comes to the threat of attacks on ships in the Red Sea by Yemen’s Houthis, the US is “leading a multinational maritime task force to uphold the bedrock principle of freedom of navigation. Iran’s support for Houthi attacks on commercial vessels must stop.”
And in a later press conference alongside Gallant, Austin said the Houthi attacks are “reckless, dangerous, and they violate international law,” and said he would be hosting a virtual meeting on Monday with ministers “to address this threat… in a meaningful way.” He also called on Hezbollah in Lebanon “to make sure that they don’t do things that would provoke a wider conflict.”
Austin vowed to continue to provide Israel “with the equipment that you need to defend your country,” citing munitions, tactical vehicles, and air defense systems, in comments to Netanyahu. He said the US was working to free all of the hostages, including US citizens still being held, as well as to “best support Israel on a path to lasting security — and that means tackling urgent needs first.”
Behind closed doors, the US defense chief was expected to have pressed Israeli officials to look toward winding down major combat operations in Gaza, withdrawing most ground troops and moving to more targeted operations aimed at killing Hamas leaders, destroying tunnels and rescuing hostages, as global anger over the rising death toll in Gaza has continued to grow.
But asked at a press conference about any such timeline, Austin said that “this is Israel’s operation, and I’m not here to dictate timelines or terms. Our support [for] Israel’s right to defend itself is ironclad, as you’ve heard me say a number of times, and that’s not going to change.”
In a readout issued later Monday, his office said he had “urged planning for transitioning to the next phase of operations.”
Answering a question at their joint press conference, Gallant said that there is “no clock that is running” on the achievements of the war, and “we need to get to different performances on the ground before we move to the next phase.”
Ultimately, said Gallant, “We will dismantle Hamas, otherwise we will not be able to exist and live in the way we want to live in this region… They need to know [in the wake of October 7] that if they kill or kidnap 1,500 people including kids and women, this is the end of Hamas.”
Asked about civilian casualties of Israel’s military operation, Austin said that Gaza is a complex battle space, with a dense population, and “that makes it very, very difficult to conduct any military operation.” Also, he noted, Hamas routinely uses civilians as shields, and fights from “near hospitals, mosques, churches, you name it. That adds to the complexity.”
Austin said he discussed with Gallant “techniques that they [the IDF] are changing as they conduct operations in the south. All of us learn,” he added, suggesting that “taking lessons learned in the north they’ve applied some of those lessons in the south, and I’m sure that’ll continue.”
Austin also reiterated the White House’s belief that the end of the war must include working toward a larger solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict: “It would compound this tragedy” if the end of the war was met with only “insecurity, fear and despair,” he said.
“Israelis and Palestinians have both paid too big a price to just go back to October 6.” Therefore, he said, he discussed during his meetings “pathways toward a future for Gaza after Hamas, based upon the clear principles laid down last month by my friend, Secretary [of State Antony] Blinken.”
Those principles were: No use of Gaza as a platform of terror against Israel; no displacement of Palestinians in Gaza; no reoccupation of Gaza by Israel; no blockade or siege of Gaza; no reduction of Gaza’s territory; and post-war governance in Gaza that reunites the territory with the West Bank under the Palestinian Authority.
Austin said that “Israelis and Palestinians both deserve a horizon of hope,” and that it is “in the interest of both Israelis and Palestinians to move forward towards two states, living side by side and in mutual security.” The defense chief noted “how hard that is” for Israelis to accept, “especially after October 7. But ongoing instability and insecurity only play into the hands of Hamas.”
He also said he had discussed with Israeli leaders “urgent action” they should take to stabilize the West Bank, again calling out attacks by extremist settlers against Palestinians, which “must stop and those committing the violence must be held accountable.”
Gallant told reporters that after the war, “Israel will not control Gaza in any civilian way. We will conduct any needed operational and military effort in order to secure our future. And we are building the routes for non-hostile partners on the other side.”
The defense minister told his US counterpart that “our common enemies around the world are watching and they know that [an] Israeli victory is a victory of the free world led by the United States.” He added that the IDF is “fighting against a brutal enemy that hides behind civilians,” and vows that Israel will continue operating in Gaza “until we fully achieve our goals.”
“We are also working with international partners to facilitate the delivery of humanitarian aid, but anytime we discuss humanitarian issues, we must remember 129 hostages are held in Gaza,” Gallant said. “This is the [top] humanitarian issue.”
Where Lebanon is concerned, said Gallant, “diplomacy is the preferred way” and Israel is not looking for war. “But Hezbollah is shooting [at] us every day since October 8… We hope Hezbollah will understand that it’s time to stop.”
During their meeting earlier Monday, Netanyahu thanked Austin for visiting and said he had told the US defense chief that Israel is committed to “achieve total victory against Hamas.” He said the ongoing war was “a battle against the Iranian axis of terror, which is now threatening to close the [Red Sea] maritime strait of Bab el-Mandeb” through Houthi attacks. “This threatens the freedom of navigation of the entire world.”
Gallant’s office released a photo of the defense minister showing his counterpart a chart hung on a wall showing senior Hamas members, and which ones the IDF has taken out in Gaza. The Prime Minister’s Office released a photo of Netanyahu showing Austin photos of the hostages still held captive by Hamas in the Strip.
The Hamas-run Gaza health ministry says more than 19,000 people in the Strip have been killed in the ensuing operation. Israel has said at least a third of those are Hamas terror operatives. The Gaza death toll cannot be independently verified, and also includes those killed in failed Palestinian rocket launches. The IDF says it has killed over 7,000 Hamas operatives in Gaza.
The IDF says that 129 of its soldiers have been killed in the Gaza ground operation.
The US has vocally backed Israel since the start of the war, and has spoken out in support of the Jewish state in international bodies, including vetoing a UN Security Council resolution which called for a unilateral ceasefire.
In recent weeks, however, the US has at times taken a more critical tone in light of the rising death toll over 10 weeks of fighting, with US President Joe Biden saying last week that Israel’s “indiscriminate bombing” in the Strip was causing it to lose global support, and that Netanyahu “has to change” his approach.
Netanyahu has admitted that Israeli and US officials do not see eye-to-eye on the vision of a post-Hamas Gaza, but he has repeatedly stated that he will not allow the Palestinian Authority to rule over the Strip following the war, despite the US continuing to call for such a move.
Agencies and Times of Israel staff contributed to this report.
Their only commitment is to ensure that the fight will go on with the continued Israeli dependence on US armaments and occasional vetos at the UNSC. It’s time to get out from under the less than protective US wing and take care of the business of providing a country where people can live normal lives all of the time.
So in effect there is a time line for “major combat operations and withdrawing most ground trrops.”. He wants this replaced by a policing operation “aimed at killing Hamas leaders”. Notice he didn’t include Hamas terrorists. Just the leaders. And Israel agreed to this?
“Austin said that “Israelis and Palestinians both deserve a horizon of hope,” and that it is “in the interest of both Israelis and Palestinians to move forward towards two states, living side by side and in mutual security.” The defense chief noted “how hard that is” for Israelis to accept, “especially after October 7.”
Actually no.
The Palestinians don’t want a state next to Israel, nor do they deserve a horizon of hope. The Palestinians who overwhelmingly support the genocidal aims of Hamas deserve consequences for supporting genocide.
Under international genocide conventions, anyone supporting a genocidal state or non state actor MUST be destroyed along with those committing genocide.
It is outrageous that the United States supports a group of people who are committed to Israel’s destruction and committed to the deaths of all Jews not just in the State of Israel but of all Jews period.
These so-called US officials (actually probably imposters) from the US government come to Israel to tell the Israelis what to do, haven’t won a war since World WarII.
These are the same people that killed thousands and thousands of Vietnamese people, and that start color revolutions in countries around the world because how else would the globalist billionaire weapons and ammunitions manufacturers sell weapons and keep those billions coming?
This US government has lost all international credibility.
In addition, they are the ones who empowered the Iranians to start this war from the beginning.
The Iranians thought they could send in their pawns (Hamas) and potentially start a Middle East conflagration, all because the Iranians didn’t like the idea of a connection between Saudi Arabia and India, or better relations between Saudi Arabia and Israel.
The Iranians never would have done this if Trump were President. But under Biden, they were empowered to send in their first pawns, Hamas. Now it is clear that Hamas will be destroyed by Israel.
That is a good thing. But as this becomes clear to Iran, they now send in their second group of pawns, the Houthis, to stop traffic going through the Suez Canal.
This is mostly a direct threat to Egypt, which requires traffic through the Suez Canal for a certain percentage of their GDP.
Iran is saying to Egypt: “watch out we can destroy you if we want to.”
Just remember that under Trump the Houthis were declared a terrorist entity. Biden removed the Houthis from the terrorist list.
So Biden is indirectly or directly responsible for the shut down of shipping in the Red Sea and ultimately through the Suez Canal.
Meanwhile the US has experienced over 90 attacks on assets in Iraq and the middle east from Iran, and has done very little to stop them.
So basically the US is a day late and a dollar short of effective in protecting traffic through the Suez Canal, upon which a good deal of international shipping and the country of Egypt is depending.
The Biden Administration seems to have a propensity from lurching from one international disaster to the next, and at home, they have decided to call anyone who disagrees with them a “domestic terrorist.”
So this is the Biden policy: treat your allies like your enemies and treat your enemies like your allies, and treat Americans who care about America as if they are ready to blow the country up and treat those who actually do commit crimes as if they should receive a permanent “get out of jail” card.
When people have a mentality that is upside down there is a word for that: perverse. A perverse mentality is one in which the guardians of morality are made into the criminals and the criminals are made into the guardians of morality.
Welcome to Biden’s America.