A sustainable victory in Gaza will not be in the books for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who, according to The New York Times' Thomas Friedman, is endangering Jews around the globe and undermining the US strategic goals in the Middle East.
 
US President Joe Biden's temporary suspension of weapon shipment to "Israel" is not the source of tension between the US and the occupation - Netanyahu's policies are. 

Friedman says the temporary hold is “unfortunate”, because this has enabled Netanyahu to show that it may not be Biden who's threatening "Israel", rather, it's Netanyahu. Seven months into the war on Gaza, Netanyahu's so-called "objectives" are far from being achieved. 

For context, citing a senior US official, ABC News reported that a shipment of around 3,500 bombs to "Israel" last week was held up by the US over concerns that they would be used in Rafah where more than one million civilians are sheltering "with nowhere else to go."

That comes in the news confirmed by Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin publicly at a Senate hearing on Wednesday, noting that the Israeli invasion in Rafah could alter US aid to "Israel".

"We are currently reviewing some near-term security assistance shipments in the context of unfolding events in Rafah," he said, stressing that the supplemental funding Congress passed is not affected.

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White House National Security Advisor John Kirby has previously underlined that the United States believes there are better ways to go after Hamas than invading Rafah. He stressed that "Israel" undertaking a major Rafah operation will not advance the objective of both Washington and Tel Aviv of defeating Hamas in Gaza.

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According to the author, this insinuates that if he wins against Hamas, the occupation will either leave Gaza and Hamas would most likely retaliate under new leadership, or "Israel" may permanently occupy both Gaza and the occupied West Bank, which it already does.

'Up in the air'

The continuous aggression in Gaza is draining the US of both options: a ceasefire, as a seemingly endless war on Gaza will surely spill over and destabilize regional US allies, namely Jordan and Egypt, and maintaining its weapon stock that is also needed by Ukraine. 

The US is also struggling to tackle the other greater issue, Iran, especially after "Israel" instigated a would-have-been war after striking the Iranian consulate in Syria, prompting Iran to respond by sending rockets and drones flying over the occupation like meteors. 

On the issue of US security alliances in the Middle East under the pretext of the “Iranian threat”, the newspaper reported that the Saudi-Israeli normalization deal “is up in the air.”

It is worth mentioning that back in February, Joe Biden asked "Israel" to guarantee that its forces were using American-manufactured weapons in Gaza in conformity with international law, and the occupation signed a letter guaranteeing that in March despite not taking any action.

With that being said, Netanyahu, in his statement on Holocaust Remembrance Day Sunday, stated, "If we need to stand alone, we will stand alone."

"Israel" defied international objections and Israeli occupation forces raided the eastern part of the city and occupied the main Rafah crossing with Egypt, even after Hamas announced it had accepted a ceasefire and prisoner swap deal presented by mediators in Doha and Cairo.

"We will fight with our fingernails. But we have much more than fingernails," Netanyahu stressed.

Read more: 'Israel' threatens to halt negotiations after US blocked arms delivery