Former US ambassador to Israel calls on Netanyahu to resign

Martin Indyk, the former U.S. ambassador to Israel, called on Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to resign from his position amid Israel’s ongoing war with the militant group Hamas. 

The 72-year-old former diplomat made his response to Netanyahu in a Sunday post on X, the social media platform formerly known as Twitter. 

He shared a link to a New York Times report on how Netanyahu was aware of neighboring country Qatar sending millions of dollars each month to the Gaza Strip. The money was used to help prop up the Hamas-run government in the territory, which the Times reported Netanyahu knew about, but also encouraged those monthly payments. 

“I would agree with you if @netanyahu wasn’t currently causing a rift with Joe Biden, Israel’s only friend in this crisis,” Indyk wrote in his X post, as a response to another user’s post. “His determination to stay in power no matter the cost is a clear and present danger to Israel.”

“He needs to resign…yesterday!” the former diplomat added. 

Indyk’s remarks come after the United States used its veto power in the United Nations Security Council to block a proposed resolution that called for an immediate humanitarian cease-fire. The resolution would have required Israel to halt its war with Hamas in the Gaza Strip on Friday.

Thirteen members of the Security Council voted in favor of the resolution, as the United Kingdom declined to vote on the resolution. 

Netanyahu praised the U.S.’s decision to veto the resolution in a video statement Saturday, saying that “other countries too need to understand that it is impossible to support the elimination of Hamas on one hand, and on the other hand call for the halting of the war, which would prevent the elimination of Hamas.”

Pressure from other countries has increased on Israel over its military operations against Hamas, which have resulted in more than 17,000 Palestinians killed in the territory, according to the Gaza Health Ministry. Hamas’s surprise attack in early October killed 1,200 Israelis, most of whom were civilians.