Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu may leave a legacy of a major security failure on October 7, 2023 and a breakdown in strategic relations with Washington. This opinion was expressed by US Democratic Senator Chris Coons (Delaware).
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“It is a tragedy that we find ourselves in this situation. <…> I hope that Prime Minister Netanyahu is thinking about what legacy he will leave behind. At the moment, his legacy is a huge strategic and defensive failure that happened 7 October. Its legacy could also be a rupture in the long, strong, strategic relationship between the United States and Israel,” he said.
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The senator believes that Netanyahu has a chance to leave behind “regional stability and peace for Israel,” but to do this he must be willing to negotiate the release of hostages, a humanitarian ceasefire and Palestinian self-government.
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The situation in the Middle East sharply worsened after the infiltration of Hamas militants from the Gaza Strip into Israeli territory on October 7, 2023, which was accompanied by the killing of residents of border settlements and the taking of more than 240 hostages. Radicals called this attack a response to the actions of the Israeli authorities against the Al-Aqsa mosque in Jerusalem. In response, Israel launched a military operation in Gaza with the aim of destroying the military and political structure of Hamas and releasing all those abducted.
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US President Joe Biden said on May 8 in an interview with CNN that the United States would stop arms supplies to Israel in the event of a major military operation in the city of Rafah in the Gaza Strip. On the same day, US Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin explained that Washington was reviewing some types of short-term military assistance to Israel in connection with the situation around Rafah. From his statements it followed that, in particular, the supply of high-power bombs had been paused.
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On May 10, the White House clarified that we were talking about a pause, and not about stopping the supply of shells to Israel. As the State Department clarified, although the transfer to Israel of only one shipment of ammunition has been suspended, other military supplies are also being reviewed.
