Biden threatens to halt arms shipments to Israel

US President Joe Biden threatened to halt arms deliveries to Israel if the country launched a large-scale operation in Rafah, in the southern part of the Gaza Strip.

Referring to the bombs the administration halted shipments of last week, Biden told CNN’s Erin Burnett on Wednesday that “Civilians in Gaza have been killed as a result of those bombs and other ways they’re going after population centers.”

The president added: “I have made it clear that if they go into Rafah – they have not yet been into Rafah – I am not supplying the weapons that have historically been used to deal with Rafah, to deal with the cities – which deal with that problem.”

Biden assured that the US will continue to supply Israel with defensive weapons, including the necessary equipment for the Iron Dome system. “We are not running away from Israel’s security. We are running away from Israel’s ability to wage war in those areas,” he said.

The day before, President Biden delivered a heartfelt speech commemorating Holocaust Remembrance Day, in which he drew a line between the atrocities of the Nazis and those of Hamas and warned against the rise of anti-Semitism and the spread of false narratives.

“Now here we are, not 75 years later, but just seven and a half months later, and people are already forgetting … that Hamas unleashed this terror,” Biden said. “I haven’t forgotten, and neither have you. And we won’t forget that either.’

Biden’s statement sparked criticism from both sides of the political map, as well as from Jewish American organizations — and, unsurprisingly, from Biden’s presidential opponent Donald Trump.

“Hamas has murdered thousands of innocent civilians, including babies, and is holding American hostages, if they are even alive, but the corrupt one is right on the side of these terrorists, just as he is on the side of the radical gang that is taking over our campuses about,” Trump wrote on Truth Social.

US Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin appeared before the Senate Defense Subcommittee and confirmed that the administration has halted arms shipments to Israel.

“We will continue to do what is necessary to ensure that Israel has the means to defend itself,” Austin said. “That said, we are currently assessing some short-term security assistance shipments in the context of the events in Rafah.”

Meanwhile, the IDF continues to operate in the Gaza Strip. Last night, several rockets were launched from the Rafah area towards the Kerem Shalom border crossing – which Israel opened yesterday for humanitarian aid to enter Gaza. The rockets did not pass over Israeli territory.

Overnight, the IDF launched a new targeted operation in the Zeytoun area in the central part of the Gaza Strip, to eliminate terrorists and dismantle infrastructure – including attack tunnels, observation and sniper posts and military centers.

Following the sirens in Karem Shalom earlier today, several projectiles were identified coming from the Rafah area towards the Karem Shalom crossing. The projectiles did not reach Israeli territory and fell in the Gaza Strip.