Israel challenges Washington in the wake of Biden’s sharp criticism… Israel will continue the war on Gaza with or without international support

Israeli Foreign Minister Eli Cohen said on Wednesday that his country will continue the war on Gaza with or without international support.

Cohen statements were made after his meeting in West Jerusalem with Australian Deputy Foreign Minister Tim Watts.

Cohen said, “Israel will continue the war against Hamas, with or without international support”.

He added, “The ceasefire at the current stage is a gift to the Hamas organization, and will allow it to return and threaten the residents of Israel”.

On Tuesday, US President Joe Biden considered that Israel had begun to lose international support due to its indiscriminate bombing of the Gaza Strip, and called on its Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to change his government because it doesn’t want a two-state solution.

On the other hand, Cohen said, “The threat to the shipping lanes in the Red Sea is harmful to the global economy, and the international community must move effectively and strongly in order to protect the shipping lanes”.

The Yemeni Houthi group has repeatedly vowed to target ships owned or operated by Israeli companies in the Red Sea in solidarity with Palestine, and called on countries to withdraw their citizens working on the crews of these ships.

As for the borders with Lebanon, the Israeli Foreign Minister said, “I’ve asked the (Australian) Deputy Foreign Minister to work on the full implementation of UN Security Council Resolution 1701”.

He added, “Failure to implement Resolution 1701 will undermine regional stability and may lead to war in Lebanon”.

Since last October 8, Hezbollah and Palestinian factions have been exchanging fire with the Israeli army on the Lebanese-Israeli border, in solidarity with the Gaza Strip, which has been subjected to a devastating Israeli war since the seventh of the same month, which has left thousands dead and wounded and destroyed thousands of homes and Infrastructures.

The Israeli Ministry of Foreign Affairs noted that this is the first solidarity visit by an Australian representative to Israel since the beginning of the war.

The Israeli Ministry of Foreign Affairs added, “In the conversation, Foreign Minister Cohen and Australian Deputy Foreign Minister Watts discussed the goals of the war in Gaza, the Hezbollah threat in southern Lebanon, the threat facing international shipping lines and the need to deal with the new rise in the level of anti-Semitism”.

For his part, a spokesman for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu acknowledged the existence of differences between the United States and Israel, stressing that Israel won’t allow a current ceasefire in the Gaza Strip.