Netanyahu denies Washington dictating actions in Gaza: ‘Israel is a sovereign state,’ will determine which foreign forces act in Gaza

In the wake of growing rumblings that key decisions about the future of the Gaza Strip are being made in Washington, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu insists that Israel is a sovereign state that makes its own decisions on national security matters.

In the latest such report, Ynet claimed this morning that a strike in central Gaza yesterday targeting a Palestinian Islamic Jihad operative planning an “imminent attack” against troops was carried out only after authorization was received from American officials.

Speaking at the start of the weekly cabinet meeting, Netanyahu blasts “ridiculous claims about the relationship between the United States and Israel.”

“When I was in Washington [people] said I control the American government, that I dictate its security policy,” he says. “Now they claim the opposite — that the American administration controls me and dictates Israel’s security policy.”

“Neither is true,” Netanyahu declares.

A series of senior US officials came to Israel last week to oversee the implementation of phase one of the Gaza ceasefire.

“Israel is a sovereign state,” the prime minister stresses. “The United States is a sovereign state. Our relationship is a partnership.”

Much of the criticism surrounding Israel’s freedom to act in Gaza emerged after a deadly Hamas attack on IDF soldiers in Rafah last week, which was followed by strikes by Israel but a quick return to the ceasefire, after the US allegedly pressured Jerusalem to rein in its reaction.

“I want to make one thing clear — our security policy is in our own hands,” Netanyahu continues. “We will not tolerate attacks against us; we respond at our discretion to attacks, as we have done in Lebanon and most recently in Gaza. We dropped 150 tons on Hamas and on terror elements after the attack on our two soldiers. And of course we also thwart dangers while they are forming before they are carried out, as we did only yesterday in the Gaza Strip.”

Netanyahu says that Israel “does not seek anyone’s approval for that. We control our own security and we have also made clear regarding international forces that Israel will determine which forces are unacceptable to us — that is how we act and will continue to act.

“This, of course, is accepted by the United States, as its most senior representatives have said in recent days,” he says, adding that “we will continue to control our fate.”