Prime Minister Netanyahu is making it clear that Israel will conduct military operations against Hamas at Rafah despite public criticisms from President Biden. The “daylight” between America and Israel is not helping Israel in its fight to defeat the terrorist organization, he says.

“To the extent that Hamas believes that there is daylight between us, that doesn’t help,” Mr. Netanyahu said during an appearance on Fox News Monday. 

“We’re not fighting just our battle. We’re fighting the battle of civilization against barbarism. We’re fighting the battle against the Iran terrorist axis, which goes against America,” he continued. “These are the people who are your worst enemies — our common worst enemies — and at this point, the entire international community … should stand behind Israel.”

Mr. Biden and his national security team has demanded in recent weeks that Israel not conduct military operations at the city of Rafah in southern Gaza.

“[We] cannot have another 30,000 more Palestinians dead,” Mr. Biden said in an interview with MSNBC over the weekend. The president said of an invasion of Rafah, “It is a red line.”

Mr. Netanyahu argues that not going into Rafah would be like the Allies pushing the Nazis back from France, only to let them maintain their power in Germany. “There’s no future for anyone in the Middle East” if Hamas is allowed to maintain its base of operations at Rafah, he says.

When pressed about what role Mr. Biden plays in dictating the scope of Israel’s military operations, Mr. Netanyahu said, “I am the prime minister of Israel. I am responsible for the security and future of the Jewish state.”

Democrats on Capitol Hill have for weeks called for at least a temporary ceasefire to get more humanitarian aid to Palestinian Arabs. Mr. Biden himself is now trying to negotiate a settlement between the Jewish state and Hamas, even as the president has called for a lasting cease-fire that could lead to a two-state solution. 

Mr. Netanyahu says he is not the one standing in the way of that solution, as some have argued. “You don’t have an issue with me, you have an issue with the entire people of Israel,” Mr. Netanyahu said, arguing that it is the people of Israel who want to see Hamas eradicated so that another October 7 does not take place. 

“It’s either Israel or Hamas — there’s no middle way,” he continued. “Hamas will reconstitute itself with these four battalions in Rafah, reconquer the Gaza Strip, and do the October 7th massacre over and over and over again. For the people of Israel, that’s a red line.”