White House National Security Communications Advisor John Kirby on Monday called Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s decision to cancel a planned trip by an Israeli delegation to the U.S. this week “disappointing.”
“We're very disappointed that they won’t be coming to Washington, D.C. to allow us to have a fulsome conversation with them about viable alternatives to going in on the ground in Rafah,” Kirby told reporters on a call on Monday.
Kirby later told reporters during a separate breifing at the White House that the White House is “kind of perplexed by this.”
Netanyahu on Monday announced he will no longer send his Strategic Affairs Minister Ron Dermer and National Security Adviser Tzachi Hanegbi to Washington following the United States’ decision not to veto a U.N. Security Council resolution demanding an immediate humanitarian cease-fire in Gaza. The U.S. instead abstained on the measure, clearing the way for it to pass.
“Prime Minister Netanyahu made it clear last night that should the US depart from its principled policy and not veto this harmful resolution, he will cancel the Israeli delegation's visit to the United States,” a statement from Netanyahu’s office reads. “In light of the change in the US position, PM Netanyahu decided that the delegation will remain in Israel.”
Kirby on Monday told reporters the U.S. could not support the resolution, citing a lack of “key language,” particularly the “condemnation of Hamas.” He added, however, that it did in fact reflect U.S. policy that a ceasefire and the release of hostages should “come together,” leading to the decision to abstain.
“The prime minister’s office seems to be indicating through public statements that we somehow changed here,” he said, insisting there has been no change in U.S. policy on the matter. “We haven’t.”
“It seems like the prime minister’s office is choosing to create a perception of daylight here when they don’t need to do that,” Kirby added.
During a call last week, Netanyahu agreed to grant President Joe Biden’s request to send a delegation to Washington to discuss a potential Israeli invasion of Rafah. The call marked Biden and Netanyahu’s first conversation in weeks as tensions appear to boil over Israel’s insistence on a ground operation in the southern city in Gaza in which more than a million Palestinians are taking refuge amid the war.
Sullivan said the U.S. was set to present Israel with an “alternative approach” to a major ground operation.
In light of the canceled delegation, Kirby pointed to the fact that Israeli Yoav Gallant is in Washington this week to meet with Sullivan as well as Secretary of State Antony Blinken on Monday and Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin on Tuesday.
“Those are pretty weighty meetings," he said. "I would suspect that there'll be significant discussions and as I said in my earlier comments, we're looking forward to having them."
Although he noted that the meetings with Gallant were considered separate from the previously planned conversations with the delegation, Kirby noted Rafah will likely come up and sought to emphasize that Netanyahu’s decision does not cut off the United States’ ability to have conversation with its Israeli counterparts on the topic.
“That doesn't mean that our ability to talk to them and to have conversations has been eliminated and, as I said, Defense Minister Gallant is here for the next 24, 36 hours,” Kirby told reporters. “And so we look forward to having conversations with him too, and we have every expectation that Rafah will come up as a part of those discussions.”
Netanyahu continues to insist that an invasion of Rafah is the necessary next step in its campaign to eliminate Hamas following the group's Oct. 7 attack on Israel that killed around 1,200 people. The White House has made clear it doesn’t support a full ground operation without a plan to protect civilians in the city, with Kirby adding on Friday that, thus far, they have “not seen such a credible plan.”
“Our position is that Hamas should not be allowed a safe haven in Rafah or anywhere else but a major ground operation there would be a mistake,” Sullivan told reporters one week ago.
Vice President Kamala Harris on Friday said she has studied the maps and believes "There is nowhere for those people to go and be safe."
Despite Blinken on Friday reiterating the administration’s position that a major ground operation in Rafah would be a “mistake” and “not the way to do it” following a meeting with Netanyahu in Tel Aviv, a statement from the Israeli leaders’ office following the sit-down insisted Israel would proceed, even if it had to do so alone.
“I also said that we have no way to defeat Hamas without entering Rafah and eliminating the remnant of the battalions there,” the statement reads in part. “I told him that I hope we would do this with US support but if necessary – we will do it alone."
Kirby on Monday emphasized that there is “no reason” for Monday’s developments to be taken as an escalation.
“Nothing, nothing has changed about our policy – nothing,” he said. “We still want to see a ceasefire. We still want to get hostages out, all of them. And we still want to see more humanitarian assistance get in to the people of Gaza. The reason we abstained is because this resolution text did not condemn Hamas.”
The U.S. along with Egypt and Qatar for weeks have been immersed in talks to try to broker another ceasefire deal that facilitates the release of hostages still being held by Hamas. Asked about the state of negotiations on Monday, Kirby pointed to Blinken’s comment last week that gaps were “narrowing” but “hard issues” remain.
“We have gotten it down to a few remaining gaps but the closer you get to the goal line, the harder that last yard is,” Blinken told reporters following his meetings in Tel Aviv on Friday. “So, there are some hard issues to work through but we are determined to do everything we can to get there.”