Israeli minister accuses Biden of favoring Hamas leader over Israel

By Mohammad Sio

ISTANBUL (AA) – Israel's far-right National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir has accused US President Joe Biden of aligning with Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar following the passage of a UN Security Council resolution demanding a cease-fire in the Gaza Strip.

''Presently, Biden prefers the line of (US Representative) Rashida Tlaib and Sinwar to the line of (Israeli Prime Minister) Benjamin Netanyahu and Ben-Gvir,” he told The New York Times.

''I would have expected the president of the United States not to take their line, but rather to take ours.''

The far-right minister criticized Biden’s approach towards Israel, saying the US president was ''enormously mistaken'' in his attempts to pressure Tel Aviv.

Biden ''constantly sought to impose restrictions on Israel and talks about the rights of the other side, who include, I remind you, many terrorists who want to destroy us,” Ben-Gvir said.

Israel has waged a deadly military offensive on the Palestinian territory since an Oct. 7 cross-border attack by Hamas which killed nearly 1,200 people.

Nearly 32,500 Palestinians have since been killed and 74,900 others injured amid mass destruction and shortages of necessities.

On Monday, the UN Security Council passed a resolution demanding an immediate cease-fire in Gaza during the Islamic holy month of Ramadan. While Hamas welcomed the resolution, Israel rejected the cease-fire call and vowed to continue its war on the Palestinian enclave. Washington abstained from voting on the UN resolution.

The Israeli war, now in its 173rd day, has pushed 85% of Gaza’s population into internal displacement amid acute shortages of food, clean water and medicine, while 60% of the enclave's infrastructure has been damaged or destroyed, according to the UN.

Israel stands accused of genocide at the ICJ, which in January issued an interim ruling that ordered Tel Aviv to stop genocidal acts and take measures to guarantee that humanitarian assistance is provided to civilians in Gaza.