Netanyahu says he ignored Biden's war counsel - and threats that Israel would be 'left alone' without US help

"President Biden told me that if we go in, we will be left alone," Netanyahu said. "He also said that he would stop shipments of important weapons to us. And so he did. A few days later, [U.S. Secretary of State Antony] Blinken appeared and repeated the same things and I told him - we will fight with our nails."

The U.S. ultimately withheld a single shipment of 2,000-pound bombs, allowing all other weapons transfers to go on. 

"I made clear that if they go into Rafah - they haven't gotten into Rafah yet - if they go into Rafah, I'm not supplying the weapons that have been used historically to deal with Rafah, to deal with the cities, to deal with that problem," Biden told CNN's Erin Burnett in an interview at the time.

Netanyahu also claimed the U.S. wanted Israel not to respond to Iran's missile attacks on Tel Aviv in October. 

"Again, we were told by our friend that there is no need to respond. And I said that sitting and not reacting is not acceptable, and we responded."

He confirmed that Israel had struck Iranian nuclear facilities in its counter-attack.

"It's not a secret, it has been published," Netanyahu said. "There is a specific component in their nuclear program that was hit in this attack."

Netanyahu emphasized the importance of Israel making its own decisions. 

"We must preserve Israel's independence. We decided to enter - and we occupied Rafah, the Philadelphi Corridor and the Rafah Crossing."

Netanyahu had immediately congratulated Trump following his victory in the Nov. 5 presidential election, deeming it "history's greatest comeback." 

"Our ability to act against these three threats will be evaluated in the near future together with the incoming administration in Washington," he said.

"This is a moment of decision-making. I am here in Beirut to facilitate that decision, but it's ultimately the decision of the parties to reach a conclusion to this conflict. It is now within our grasp," he said.

But Netanyahu struck a different tone - suggesting his nation would continue to carry out attacks on Hezbollah even if they had reached a cease-fire "on paper." 

"The most important thing is not [the deal that] will be laid on paper," Netanyahu said. "Even if there is a paper [setting out an agreement], worthy though it may be, we will be required, in order to ensure our security in the north (of Israel), to systematically carry out operations - not only against Hezbollah's attacks, which could come. Even if there is a cease-fire, nobody can guarantee it will hold. So it's not only our reaction, a preventive reaction, a reaction in the wake of attack, but also the capacity to prevent Hezbollah from strengthening."

"We will not allow Hezbollah to return to the state it was in on Oct. 6, 2023."