April 19, 2024 (EIRNS)—The U.S.-Israel Strategic Consultative Group (SCG) convened for the second time, yesterday, by video teleconference, but ultimately resolved nothing about Israeli plans to assault Rafah, the southernmost part of Gaza, which is choked with about 1 million refugees. The White House statement about the meeting, where the U.S. side was led by National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan, while the Israeli side was led by Minister for Strategic Affairs Ron Dermer and National Security Advisor Tzachi Hanegbi, played up Iran’s April 13-14 attack on Israel, and the new sanctions imposed on Iran this week—but the real item on the agenda was Rafah.
“The two sides then broadened to include interagency delegations to discuss Rafah. The two sides agreed on the shared objective to see Hamas defeated in Rafah,” the White House statement said. “U.S. participants expressed concerns with various courses of action in Rafah, and Israeli participants agreed to take these concerns into account and to have further follow up discussions between experts, overseen by the SCG.”
