🚩 Fighting continues in the Gaza Strip and on the border with Lebanon
🚩 Netanyahu holds meetings with the US leadership
🚩 The dynamics in the exchange deal are not visible
🔷 “Our enemies are your enemies. Our fight is your fight. And our victory will be your victory,” Netanyahu said to a standing ovation in the jammed House chamber on Wednesday. He defends Israel’s conduct of the war in Gaza and pays tribute to both Biden and Trump. Netanyahu touched on the sensitive topic of slowing down arms supplies to Israel: „Give us the tools faster, and we’ll finish the job faster.“ (The Wall Street Journal, The New York Times) https://lnk.sk/fte4 ; https://lnk.sk/zi25
🔷 The Times of Israel: If only Netanyahu governed Israel as effectively as he speaks about it. The prime minister delivered a masterful address to a largely enthralled Congress, hailing our nation and scorning its critics. But his public diplomacy skills were never in doubt. https://lnk.sk/puhr
🔷 Netanyahu to Biden: ‘From one Zionist to another, thank you for 50 years of friendship‘ “We’ve known each other for 40 years, and you’ve known every Israeli Prime Minister for 50 years since Golda Meir,” Netanyahu told Biden as they sat next to each other in chairs in the Oval Office of White House. (The Jerusalem Post) https://lnk.sk/qylx
🔷 Israel will fully withdraw from Gaza in the second phase of the hostage deal, Vice President Kamala Harris said in statements she delivered to the press in the aftermath of her meeting with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu at the White House late Thursday afternoon. (The Washington Post) https://lnk.sk/sot7
🔷 Harris’s words could harm hostage deal talks, senior Israeli official says adding ‚she was more “aggressive” in her press remarks than in conversation with Netanyahu‘. Harris remained committed to a two-state solution. (The Jerusalem Post, The Times of Israel) https://lnk.sk/aivc ; https://lnk.sk/ryd2
🔷 Netanyahu will visit Republican candidate Trump in Florida on Friday before returning to Washington, where he will spend the Sabbath. Hours before they are due to meet for the first time since Trump was president, the Israeli official tells that the relationship between Netanyahu and Trump is “good.” https://lnk.sk/zamy
🔷 The Hague Initiative for International Cooperation “thinc.” has been granted leave to file observations on ICC Prosecutor’s request for arrest warrants against Prime Minister Netanyahu and Defense Minister Joav Gallant. “We will submit to the court that the Prosecutor’s request lacks merit and disregards fundamental principles of international criminal jurisdiction.” https://lnk.sk/anc3 ; https://lnk.sk/kwcr
🔵 COMMENT of the day: Netanyahu Makes Israel’s Case to Congress.
EDITORIAL by The Wall Street Journal
When an ally is at war, the least its leader deserves is a hearing. The lawmakers who boycotted the speech by Israel’s Prime Minister to Congress on Wednesday revealed more about themselves than they did about Benjamin Netanyahu.
Had they listened, they might have learned why Israel fights. They also would have heard from Mr. Netanyahu that “Israel has enabled more than 40,000 aid trucks to enter Gaza. That’s half-a-million tons of food and more than 3,000 calories [a day] for every man, woman and child in Gaza” before Hamas’s theft. They could have considered how “the ability of all democracies to fight terrorism will be imperiled” by the constraints international institutions seek to impose on Israel.
“The war in Gaza could end tomorrow if Hamas surrenders, disarms and returns all the hostages,” Mr. Netanyahu said. But if they don’t, Israel will fight until victory. “Give us the tools faster, and we’ll finish the job faster,” he said. The implication that President Biden’s decision to delay weapons transfers has dragged out the war is true, but it was wisely left unsaid. https://lnk.sk/zguv
© ICEJ Slovakia peter.svec@icej.sk