‘Hogwash’ that Israel is a US client state, says Netanyahu | Israel

On the second day of a US diplomatic push in Israel aimed at bolstering the fragile Gaza ceasefire with Hamas, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Wednesday dismissed suggestions that his country is a client state of Washington, calling it “nonsense”.

Answering the question of whether Israel is indebted to Washington even though the USA provides an estimated 68 percent of Israel’s foreign-sourced weapons, Netanyahu said: “I want to state it very clearly. One week they say Israel controls the USA. A week later they say the USA controls Israel. This is nonsense.”

At the end of the meeting in Jerusalem with US vice president JD Vance as part of the US diplomatic offensive to support the ceasefire plan to end the conflict, Netanyahu added: “We have a partnership, an alliance of partners who share common values ​​and common goals.” “We may argue, we may have disagreements here and there, but overall I would say that last year we agreed not only on the goals but also on how to achieve them.”

“We don’t want a vassal state, and that’s not what Israel is,” Vance replied. “We do not want a dependent state, and neither does Israel. We want a partnership. We want an ally here.”

Vance’s visit followed the visit of US Middle East envoy Steve Witkoff and Donald Trump’s son-in-law Jared Kushner. Their aim, analysts said, was to calm tensions after Palestinian militants killed two Israeli soldiers and Israel bombed Gaza on Sunday, rocking the ceasefire by repeated violations since it was implemented on October 10.

The US vice president warned on Wednesday of the difficult task ahead in disarming Hamas and building a peaceful future for Gaza, while Washington was seeking to reassure Israel about the next steps of the ceasefire, including recovering the remaining bodies of Israeli hostages held by Hamas in the strip and eventually rebuilding devastated Palestinian territory.

“We have a very, very difficult task ahead of us, which is to disarm Hamas, but to rebuild Gaza, to make life better for the people of Gaza, and also to make sure that Hamas no longer poses a threat to our friends in Israel,” Vance said. he said.

He stated that one of the institutions that should be established in Gaza is the “international security force”. According to Trump’s 20-point plan, this military mission would maintain peace in Gaza while Israel withdraws.

Vance said Tuesday that Türkiye will have a “constructive role” to play as we move toward the next phase of the ceasefire.

“Many of our Israeli friends [will be] “We’re working with a lot of Americans to really broker this whole ceasefire process to get some of the critical infrastructure in place,” Vance said after his meeting with Netanyahu in Jerusalem.

However, the news that openly criticized Israel and that its rival in the region, Türkiye, could provide soldiers shook Israel’s opinion.

Netanyahu hinted on Wednesday that he opposes Turkish security forces playing any role in the Strip.

Answering a question about the idea of ​​Turkish security forces going to Gaza, Netanyahu said, “We will decide this together. Therefore, I have very strong opinions on this issue. Would you like to guess what they are?”

Türkiye, which helped Hamas accept Trump’s plan, said it would take part in the international task force that will oversee the implementation of the ceasefire and that its armed forces could serve in a military or civilian capacity if needed.

When Vance and Netanyahu met, the U.N. supreme court was ready to issue its view on Israel’s legal obligations to provide desperately needed humanitarian aid to Palestinians in Gaza and the West Bank.

The International Court of Justice (ICJ) is responding to a request for an advisory opinion on Israel’s legal obligations following the UN general assembly’s de facto ban on Israel’s UN Agency for Palestine Refugees (Unrwa) last year.

Although the ICJ’s opinion is not binding, it carries significant legal weight that could affect the UN and its work around the world.

The Knesset also preliminary approved a bill on Wednesday on the implementation of sovereignty in the West Bank. More votes will be required for the bill to become law.

Netanyahu had previously asked Israeli representatives to delay presenting the bill during Vance’s visit, as the United States had previously said annexation of the West Bank was a red line.

Shouting broke out in the Knesset during the vote, with Avi Maoz of the far-right Noam party saying that “it is time to exercise sovereignty” and that Israelis have an obligation to “settle the land of Israel.”

Despite warm words between Israel and the United States and cautious optimism about Gaza’s future, the ceasefire remains fragile, with both sides blaming each other for repeated violations of the ceasefire.

The Palestinian news agency reported that Israel violated the ceasefire 80 times in the last 11 days and killed at least 80 Palestinians. Israel accused Hamas of delaying the return of the hostages’ bodies and said this was a violation of the ceasefire agreement.

Hamas returned 15 bodies, including two bodies taken from the Red Cross on Tuesday night, Aryeh Zalmanovich and Tamir Adar, but still must hand over 13 more bodies.

The militant group said it would take time to find the remains because many people were trapped under the rubble.

Israel returned the bodies of 30 more Palestinians to Gaza on Wednesday.

Health officials in the region said that most of the corpses that came from Israel with their hands tied and blindfolded and that have been sent back to Gaza so far have traces of torture.

Dozens of people held a mass funeral in front of Nasser Hospital in the south of Gaza for 54 unidentified bodies wrapped in white shrouds. The bodies were among 165 people returned by Israel last week, many of whom remain unidentified by families. Identification of some of the bodies, which had freezer burns due to long stays in the morgue, was difficult due to the deformity of the bodies.

Palestinians are still being killed by Israeli forces as they cross the “yellow line” marking the withdrawal of Israeli troops. Civil defense officials said Palestinians had no idea where the line was. The Israeli military said it began marking the yellow line on Tuesday with large yellow concrete blocks placed every 200 meters.