Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu responded on Thursday to US President Joe Biden's threats by sharing a video of an address he had made several days earlier to social media.
In the address that Netanyahu shared, which he made on Sunday at the ceremony marking Holocaust Remembrance Day at Yad Vashem, the Prime Minister stated: "Eighty years ago, in the Holocaust, the Jewish people were totally defenseless against those who sought our destruction. No nation came to our aid.
"Today, we again confront enemies bent on our destruction."
Netanyahu continued: "I say to the leaders of the world, no amount of pressure, no decision by any international forum, will stop Israel from defending itself."
He concluded by pledging: "As the Prime Minister of Israel – the one and only Jewish state – I pledge here today from Jerusalem on this Holocaust Remembrance Day: If Israel is forced to stand alone, Israel will stand alone. But we know we are not alone because countless decent people around the world support our just cause. And I say to you, we will defeat our genocidal enemies. Never again is now!"
US President Joe Biden told CNN on Wednesday he would halt shipments of American weapons to Israel if Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu ordered a major invasion of the city of Rafah.
“Civilians have been killed in Gaza as a consequence of those bombs and other ways in which they go after population centers,” Biden told CNN’s Erin Burnett in an exclusive interview, referring to 2,000-pound bombs that Biden paused shipments of last week.
“I made it clear that if they go into Rafah – they haven’t gone in Rafah yet – if they go into Rafah, I’m not supplying the weapons that have been used historically to deal with Rafah, to deal with the cities – that deal with that problem,” Biden added.