JERUSALEM, Israel — U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken tried to meet privately with Israel Defense Forces (IDF) Chief of Staff Herzi Halevi on Wednesday, without Israel’s elected leaders present, before the meeting was blocked by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
IDF Chief of Staff Herzi Halevi talks with troops near the border with Lebanon, January 17, 2024 (IDF)
Blinken is currently on a visit to Israel to discuss hostage negotiations and the Biden administration’s goal of a Palestinian state.
The Times of Israel reported:
A previously scheduled one-on-one meeting between US Secretary of State Antony Blinken and IDF Chief of Staff Herzi Halevi will not take place, amid reports that the Prime Minister’s Office opposed a meeting between a foreign diplomat and the military without the presence of elected leaders.
Blinken’s goal may have been to thwart an Israeli attack on Rafah, near the Egyptian border, a key smuggling point and the last part of the Gaza Strip that Israel has not attacked. Refugees have gathered there from other parts of Gaza, which poses a risk of civilian casualties, but without Israel control of Rafah, Hamas can sneak in weapons — or sneak itself, and its hostages, out.
NEW: Secretary of State Blinken told Netanyahu the U.S. is very concerned about a possible expansion of Israel’s military operation into the southern Gazan city of Rafah.
Over 1 million Palestinians are concentrated in Rafah and the surrounding areas. https://t.co/wt2yID4yNW
— Axios (@axios) February 7, 2024
Blinken has been accused of trying to micromanage Israel’s war effort on behalf of President Joe Biden, holding one meeting with Israel’s war cabinet in October that lasted several hours. The goal is to restrict Israel’s freedom to act against Hamas terrorists, ostensibly because taking out Hamas decisively could involve more civilian casualties in the short term than a slower war effort.
Netanyahu and Blinken are to hold separate press conferences Wednesday, another sign of deteriorating relations between the Biden administration and the Israeli government, which is insisting on achieving the once-shared goal of removing Hamas.
Blinken delivered disparaging remarks about Israel to the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, last month.
Joel B. Pollak is Senior Editor-at-Large at Breitbart News and the host of Breitbart News Sunday on Sirius XM Patriot on Sunday evenings from 7 p.m. to 10 p.m. ET (4 p.m. to 7 p.m. PT). He is the author of the recent book, “The Zionist Conspiracy (and how to join it),” now available on Audible. He is also the author of the e-book, Neither Free nor Fair: The 2020 U.S. Presidential Election. He is a winner of the 2018 Robert Novak Journalism Alumni Fellowship. Follow him on Twitter at @joelpollak.
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