Harris' advisor warns Netanyahu against rejecting Gaza deal, isolation
4 Min Read
Philip Gordon tells the Herzliya Conference at Reichman University that rejecting the deal would not achieve "some undefined notion of total victory."
-
Phil Gordon, the advisor to US Vice President Kamala Harris, during a 2024 International Affairs Fellowship Conference (X)
Vice President Kamala Harris' National Security Advisor urged Israeli occupation Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to accept a deal proposed by US President Joe Biden last month, despite Netanyahu's statement Sunday that he only wants a "partial" agreement.
Appearing in Herzliya in occupied Palestine, Philip Gordon told the Herzliya Conference at Reichman University that rejecting the deal would not achieve "some undefined notion of total victory," warning that it would instead "lead to endless conflict, draining Israel's resources, contributing to its isolation on the world stage, and preventing the hostages from being reunited with their families."
According to Gordon, the compromise Biden proposed is the path most likely to bring about hope for the future, citing that it would end the war on Gaza in a way that ensures "Israel's" security, as well as prevent Hamas from governing Gaza.
He also mentioned he believed the deal would allow the "Palestinian people to have a hopeful political horizon to freedom, security, and an eventual state, living side by side in peace with Israel."
Gordon, of course, reassured the occupation that Washington "is certainly not asking Israel to sacrifice its security or immediately to come to a negotiated agreement on two states."
Despite the Israeli genocide against Palestinians and their ruthless incursions into the strip, he too blamed Hamas, citing that if they refuse the deal, they are to be blamed for the "ongoing suffering of so many Palestinians."
This comes as reports have been circulating that the White House is growing more concerned that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu may take advantage of his upcoming address at the White House to openly attack US President Joe Biden and his administration's handling of the war on Gaza.
As Netanyahu is due to address a joint session of Congress next month, an unnamed US official told Politico on Saturday, "No one knows what he’s going to say."
According to another senior official, Netanyahu "could make it far worse up there in front of Congress" and his most recent call-out of the US "was not helpful at all."
In response to Netanyahu scolding the US for withholding ammunition and weapons from "Israel", White House National Security Communications Advisor John Kirby expressed that the White House was not aware the video was coming and called it "perplexing to say the least, certainly disappointing."
Politico added that a "diplomatically complicated and politically dicey spectacle for a president running for reelection" may result from the speech if he does openly criticize Biden.
Gaza clans to Netanyahu: We decide our own fates
The commissioner general of the Supreme Authority of Palestinian clans in Gaza, Akef al-Masri, affirmed that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his ministers "have not and will not be able to break the will of the Palestinian people in their pursuit of freedom, ending the occupation, establishing a Palestinian state, and achieving the right of return."
It is noteworthy that the statements from the clans in the Gaza Strip came after Netanyahu acknowledged the failure of his plan, which proposed that Palestinian clans would govern the Strip instead of the Hamas Movement. He reiterated his refusal to hand over administration to the Palestinian Authority or establish a Palestinian state, as reported by Israeli Channel 12.
Al-Masri stressed that the Palestinian clans "will thwart what Netanyahu is planning during the coming period, just as they thwarted the Israeli plans during the past nine months" of war against the Gaza Strip.
He explained that the clans refused to take the place of any political party running the Gaza Strip, stressing that they are "not an alternative to the Palestinian Resistance factions, but rather complement them in their struggle, despite their various political and ideological orientations."
