On Sunday, Senator Chis Van Hollen (D-MD) said during an interview with an American news channel that Prime Minister Netanyahu has “shut the door” on efforts to establish a two-state solution between Israel and Palestine following the war.
Van Hollen was responding to a question surrounding a statement recently released by Netanyahu in which the prime minister said he was "proud" to have prevented the possibility for a two-state solution.
“I am proud to have prevented the establishment of a Palestinian state, because today everyone knows what that Palestinian state could have been after we saw the little Palestinian state in Gaza," the prime minister said this weekend.
“This is a direct response to President Biden calling for a two-state solution. Ultimately it’s the only political settlement that’s viable,” said Van Hollen, in reference to the statement.
“[Netanyahu] has continued to weaken the Palestinian authority. This is the organization that recognized Israel’s right to exist decades and decades ago—instead of trying to find peace or at least preventing the conditions on the ground from changing with additional settlements to allow a two-state solution, he has shut the door on that effort," the senator continued.
“This is where it’s really important that President Biden asserts leadership in this moment,” the senator added.
Israel is one of the largest recipients of US foreign military financing, according to a report. Since the Obama administration, the country has received $3.8 billion annually for its military and missile system. A GOP plan to provide the country with $14.5 billion in military assistance was also passed in early November.
US President Joe Biden has repeatedly expressed support for Israel in their war against Hamas, but has also pushed for a two-state solution, which would allow for the establishment of an independent Palestinian state, in the event that the war ends.
According to the Health Ministry in Gaza, Israel’s military response to the October 7 attack from Hamas has killed over 18,700 people. The Biden administration has "tried to appear as peacekeepers," yet blocking ceasefire resolutions at the United Nations Security Council twice.
Israel understands the true US intentions, although covered with calls for peace, thus, continues its operation, regardless of civilian casualties. Van Hollen stressed that the US entreaties for Israel to reduce its civilian death toll are ignored by the Israel Defense Forces (IDF).
"I don't think it's getting through clearly enough because we continue to see unacceptably high levels of civilian casualties," Van Hollen said on Sunday. "And when it comes to the humanitarian crisis [in Gaza], we still have a near-total siege."
"The United States is not a bystander to this. We are a big supplier, of course, a supplier of military assistance to Israel," Van Hollen continued. "So we are with them [Israel] entirely in the objective of ending the military threat. But again, we need to make sure that our values are reflected in this so long as we are providing all of this equipment."
On Wednesday, in response to criticism on the war in Gaza, Netanyahu said that “nothing” would stop Israel: "Nothing will stop us. We are going on to the end, until victory, nothing less."