US position on Gaza finally hardening as split with Netanyahu grows

Kamala Harris has a frank message for Benny Gantz, a member of Israel’s war cabinet – that conditions in Gaza are a humanitarian catastrophe, that more aid needs to make it into the besieged territory, and that there needs to be an immediate ceasefire. open image in gallery US vice-president Kamala Harris during her speech on Sunday Like Harris, Biden himself called for an “immediate ceasefire” and stressed the need to surge aid to Gaza. When pressed on whether there is any daylight between herself and Biden, the vice-president stressed their unity on the matter, telling reporters: “The president and I have been aligned and consistent from the very beginning.” Yet the subtle change in the American leaders’ language reflects the way in which frustration has been growing for weeks within Washington towards Netanyahu’s hardline stance towards a future Palestinian state, with a two-state solution having been US policy in the Middle East for decades. “There is no way I would stand aside and play with politics under such circumstances.” While Gantz has been as adamant as any other leading politician in Israel that the war in Gaza can only end when Hamas is destroyed, he is far more open to dialogue with the Palestinians than are Netanyahu and his hardline allies from the settler movement, such as finance minister Bezalel Smotrich and security minister Itamar Ben-Gvir. Anonymous briefers have told Israeli outlets that “there is only one prime minister”, and the media have reported that Netanyahu forbid Israel’s ambassador in the United States from supporting the visit.