Biden Says The US Will Stop Supplying Some Weapons To Israel Over Rafah But Israel Hasn’t Crossed His Red Line
"If they go into Rafah, I’m not supplying the weapons that have been used historically to deal with Rafah," Joe Biden said.
US president Joe Biden has threatened to withhold some weapon supplies to Israel if it proceeds with a major ground invasion of Rafah, saying that civilians have been killed as a result of using these weapons.
In an interview on CNN with anchor Erin Burnett on Wednesday, May 9, Biden admitted when asked that the 2,000-pound bombs supplied by the US to Israel have been used to kill civilians in Rafah.
He said that he has made it clear to Israel that the US will withhold weapons and artillery shells Israel has been using in Rafah if it goes ahead with its plan to invade the southern city in Gaza.
“I made it clear that if they go into Rafah – they haven’t gone in Rafah yet – 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.
Burnett then asked him if Israel’s current actions – which include ordering more than 100,000 Palestinians to evacuate east Rafah and taking control of the crossing to Egypt – constitute going into Rafah.
Biden replied that Israel hasn’t gone into the population centers yet and was operating on the border with Egypt.
He said that he has made it clear to Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his war cabinet that the US would not support Israel if it goes into the population centers in Rafah, adding that the US was still committed to helping Israel’s security.
“So it’s not over your red line yet?” Burnett asked.
“Not yet, but we’ve held up one shipment of weapons,” Biden said.
Israeli officials condemned Biden’s remarks, with Israel’s UN ambassador saying the decision was “disappointing” and “can encourage the enemies of the State of Israel and the Israeli nation.”
Meanwhile, Netanyahu posted a video of a speech he gave a few days ago when he said “If Israel is forced to stand alone, Israel will stand alone.”
Israel’s far-right Minister of National Security, Itamar Ben-Gvir, then shared a post on X, formerly Twitter, reading “Hamas <3 Biden.”
That post led to widespread criticism from Israeli politicians, who called for Netanyahu to fire Ben-Gvir.
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