Netanyahu Responds Defiantly to Biden's Warning

Benjamin Netanyahu is responding with defiance to a warning from President Biden about an expected invasion of Rafah. After Biden said the US would halt the shipment of offensive weapons to Israel should it go ahead with the ground invasion, Netanyahu issued a video message:

• "If we have to stand alone, we will stand alone," said the Israeli prime minister, per the Washington Post. "If we need to, we will fight with our fingernails. But we have much more than fingernails."
• All set? Meanwhile, a spokesman for the Israeli military said Israel already has the necessary weaponry for the invasion, reports the AP. "The army has munitions for the missions it plans, and for the missions in Rafah too—we have what we need," said Rear Adm. Daniel Hagari. However, it's likely the US move would force Israel to shift strategy to some extent—"it's possible we'll have to economize the way we use our arms and hit more targets without precision bombs," former national security adviser Jacob Nagel tells the New York Times.

• Low point: Alon Pinkas, a former Israeli consul general in New York, tells CNN he thinks this is one of the lowest moments in history for US-Israel relations. "I do think this is a very low point—could the relationship survive this? Yes. Could it do so while Netanyahu is in power? No."
• Analysis: This is indeed a "moment of crisis" in US-Israel relations, writes Adam Rasgon in the New York Times. And it's one that could result in domestic blowback against Netanyahu. "The United States provides Israel with a steel dome—it's not only military support; it's strategic and political; it's at the United Nations, the international court, and so on," Amos Gilead, a former senior Israeli defense official, tells the newspaper. "If we lose the United States with the unbelievable friendship of President Biden, it won't be forgiven."
  

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