US Ambassador to Israel Jacob Lew said in an interview with Chanel 12's Yonit Levi that despite the apparent tensions, nothing has fundamentally changed in the relationship between the US and Israel.
"I think fundamentally, nothing has changed in the basic relationship. We have had conversations about large-diameter bombs, heavy bombs, particularly when there's the possibility of them being used in densely populated urban areas, and that's something we need to keep talking about. But I think it's a mistake to think anything's fundamentally changed in the relationship," explained Lew.
Regarding President Biden's threat not to supply offensive weapons if Israel enters Rafah, he said: "The President said that he doesn't believe it's a good idea to have a massive ground campaign in the heavily populated area, but he specifically said that 2,000-pound bombs shouldn't be used in that situation."
The Ambassador noted that there still have not been any real "disagreements" over Israel's actions in Rafah, and he hopes that there will not be any disagreements.
When asked if the Biden Administration still supports Israel's goal to topple Hamas, Lew claimed that the US never shared such a goal since it did not believe it was plausible. "We would have never used that language because we learned in our own experience in difficult wars that eliminating something is different than making it no longer a threat. The challenge is to reduce Hamas to a point that it's no longer a threat.
"We have said constantly that Hamas should not be either a political or a governing body. That doesn't mean that you've eliminated every last member of Hamas."