Tensions between the United States and Israel extend beyond the current fighting. (document)
The almost daily phone calls stopped a few months ago. Now, tensions between Joe Biden and Benjamin Netanyahu over Israel’s war against Hamas have come out into the open as the two leaders publicly spat.
Late last week, the United States announced that its troops would build a dock to deliver aid to civilians in Gaza, where Israeli attacks have caused food shortages and aid groups warned of a possible famine. Biden asked the Israeli leader to “focus more on the innocent lives lost” and warned that “he is hurting Israel more than he is helping it.”
Netanyahu fired back the next day. “He’s wrong on both counts,” he said in an interview with Politico parent Axel Springer.
In a very public stance, Biden publicly embraced Israel after the deadliest Hamas attack in Israel’s history on Oct. 7. The U.S. president has worked closely with Netanyahu, providing extensive military and diplomatic support. But with more than 30,000 people dead, according to the health ministry in Hamas-controlled Gaza, and Israeli plans to attack Rafah, the last major city where residents of the enclave have sought refuge, a rift between civilians has erupted between the Israeli leader and his most important ally. Problems and tensions. The death toll has become impossible to conceal.
Biden told a lawmaker at a microphone on Thursday that he planned to meet with Netanyahu to “come to Jesus.” Just days ago, his government hosted Benny Gantz, a member of Israel’s war cabinet and Netanyahu’s main political rival, for a high-level meeting in Washington.
The Israeli leader smells betrayal. “To the extent that Hamas thinks there is light between us, it doesn’t help,” Netanyahu told Fox News on Monday. Hamas has been designated a terrorist organization by the United States and the European Union.
For now, the Biden administration continues to provide weapons and other support to Israel, while also stepping directly in to provide humanitarian aid.
Biden, 81, and Netanyahu, 74, have been at odds for decades. But this time, the tension is more real. The United States believes that Israel has not done enough to limit the death and suffering of millions of ordinary Palestinians who have nothing to do with Hamas and its violent policies. In northern Gaza, more than a dozen children starved to death while their parents ate grass and made flour from animal feed, U.S. officials said, citing a statement from the World Health Organization.
Biden faces growing pressure to do more to rein in his allies, both in other capitals and from key supporters at home, where liberals and younger voters are demanding an end to support for Israel.
“Both men are highly skilled, sensitive politicians who, rather than trying to help each other, are trying to squeeze each other out,” said Jon Altman, director of the Middle East Program at the Center for Strategic and International Studies in Washington.
A turning point came in late February when about 100 Gazans died while seeking aid from a convoy, U.S. officials said. Israel said that incident involved some shooting by Israeli troops, but most was caused by a stampede. It rejects the idea that it does not care about civilians.
People close to Netanyahu believe that U.S. policy now aims to separate the prime minister from his base, hoping to spark a political crisis in Israel that would lead to a more moderate government without Netanyahu and his far-right coalition partners. government.
This was evident when Biden sanctioned extremist Jewish settlers in the West Bank, a major component of Netanyahu’s partnership.
In a report to Congress on Monday, the U.S. intelligence community questioned “Netanyahu’s viability as a leader.” It predicted “massive protests calling for his resignation and new elections” which it said could lead to a more moderate government.
“The conflict in Gaza could have a generational impact on terrorism,” the report said, underscoring U.S. intelligence agencies’ concerns about the scale of destruction in the Palestinian territories.
For his part, Netanyahu, the country’s longest-serving prime minister, made clear in an interview on Sunday that he will not lead the country anywhere it doesn’t want to go. A recent poll by the Israel Democracy Institute found that 75 percent of Jewish Israelis favor expanding military operations in Rafah.
White House press secretary Olivia Dalton said Monday that Biden’s decades-long relationship with the Israeli leader allows the U.S. president “to be direct and honest when needed. But the strength of the two leaders’ relationship no change.”
Netanyahu said Israel would eventually invade the southern Gaza city of Rafah, where some 8,000 Hamas fighters, its leaders and the remaining 134 hostages are believed to be hiding.
Biden does not want Israel to move forward because he fears too many civilians will be killed.
White House spokesman Dalton said: “Our view is that there should be no military action in Rafah without a credible and implementable plan to take care of the security needs of the more than one million civilians taking refuge there.” said Monday. “We have not seen such a plan.”
Israeli troops prepare to attack Rafah | More than a million people seek refuge in southern Gaza city
But when Gantz, a popular opposition politician, met with officials in Washington last week, his message was clear: The attack on Rafah must eventually go ahead.
Tensions extend beyond the current battle. The Biden administration believes it’s time to start planning for the day after the war, which means regional arrangements involving Saudi and Emirati aid for the Palestinian state to administer Gaza and the West Bank.
Netanyahu hates this, saying that if a Palestinian state is the result of the October 7 massacre, it will reward terror. He and his aides said Palestinians must realize the opposite – that violence only brings harsh retaliation.
They also say: The more Biden tries to drive a wedge between the Israeli public and the prime minister, the more powerful he will make Netanyahu because voters will not like such interference.
