Scrapping US visit sends message to Hamas, says Netanyahu

Israel’s Prime Minister said yesterday his decision to cancel a trip to Washington DC was “a message to Hamas” that his government would not surrender to pressure to pull back from its war in Gaza.

Benjamin Netanyahu scrapped the visit by senior aides in protest at the Biden administration’s abstention from a UN Security Council resolution calling for an immediate ceasefire and the release of hostages.

On Monday, the White House suggested that the cancellation was unnecessary and an overreaction.

John Kirby, a spokesman for the US National Security Council, said: “We’re kind of perplexed by this. It’s a non-binding resolution, so there’s no impact at all on Israel’s ability to continue to go after Hamas.”

Yesterday, Mr Netanyahu said the US decision not to veto the resolution was “very, very bad”.

Speaking at a meeting in Jerusalem with the visiting US senator, Rick Scott, he added: “The bad thing about the US decision… was it encouraged Hamas to take a hard line and to believe international pressure will prevent Israel from freeing the hostages and destroying Hamas.”

He said cancelling the trip was “a message first and foremost to Hamas: ‘Don’t bet on this pressure, it’s not going to work.’ I hope they got the message.”

Meanwhile, a Lebanese newspaper reported that Israel was preparing for a ground invasion of Rafah in southern Gaza from around mid April to early May.

The pro-Hezbollah Al-Akhbar paper cited Egyptian sources, said to have been in contact with Israel Defence Forces officials.