Biden And Netanyahu Rift Opens: How U.S./Israel Divisions Over War With Hamas Went Public Tuesday
S E E D E D C O N T E N T
President Joe Biden delivered some of his most pointed criticism yet of Israel on Tuesday when he warned the country it was losing support globally, as tension has been mounting between the allies for weeks.
US President Joe Biden (L) speaks as Israel's Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu listens on prior to ... [+] their meeting in Tel Aviv on October 18, 2023, amid the ongoing Israel-Hamas war. (Photo by BRENDAN SMIALOWSKI/AFP via Getty Images)
AFP via Getty Images
Key Facts
Biden said Israel is "starting to lose that support" from the international community that existed in the immediate aftermath of Hamas' Oct. 7 attack, specifically pointing to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's refusal to agree to allow the Palestinian Authority—which opposes Hamas and oversees parts of the West Bank—to govern Gaza when the war between Israel and Hamas ends.
Netanyahu has expressed doubts about the Palestinian Authority's ability to ensure Gaza is "demilitarized" and "deradicalized," he told NBC's Meet the Presslast month , calling for a "different authority" to govern Gaza and expressing the need in other interviews for Israel to maintain an "overall security responsibility" over the region to ensure Hamas terrorists are kept at bay.
Speaking in broad terms about the Israeli government, Biden said Tuesday that Netanyahu "has to change this government," calling it "the most conservative government in Israel's history," while specifically mentioning its divisive national security minister, Itamar Ben-Gvir.
Tuesday's statements follow similar comments from Biden on Monday at a White House Hanukkah reception, where he said the U.S. and Israel "have to be very careful" in their handling of the war moving forward, warning "the whole world's public opinion can shift overnight," and adding, "we can't let that happen."
The Biden administration, which expressed staunch support for Israel in the days after Oct. 7, has ramped up its critical rhetoric in recent weeks, not only surrounding Israel's post-war plans, but also about hostage negotiations, violence toward Palestinians from Israeli settlers in the West Bank and concerns Israel is not doing enough to mitigate a growing Palestinian death toll, which surpassed 18,000 this week, according to the Hamas-run Health Ministry.
In an earlier display of the brewing tensions, Biden said some of the tasks he'd asked Netanyahu to complete were "taking a little longer than I had hoped," he told reporters on Nov. 9 as Israel was negotiating a temporary cease-fire with Hamas in exchange for the release of hostages.
Secretary of State Antony Blinken also expressed concerns about settler violence during his meeting with Netanyahu last month, and underscored the need for "more effective steps to protect the lives of civilians," including designated safe zones for civilians in Gaza, Blinken told reporters after the meeting.
Despite expressing some frustration with Israel's handling of the war, the Biden administration has remained supportive of Israel's continued counterattacks on Hamas, continued to sharply condemn the acts of terrorism against Israel and has kept open lines of communication with the Israeli government.
Crucial Quote
"We have an opportunity to begin to unite the region," Biden said Tuesday. "You can not say no to a Palestinian state . . . that's going to be the hard part [for the Israeli government]."
Surprising Fact
This is not the first time Biden has had bumps in his relationship with Netanyahu. Recalling one of those moments during Monday's White House reception, he repeated a story he's told previously about gifting Netanyahu a photo during Biden's time as senator scrawled with a note that read, "Bibi, I love you, but I don't agree with a damn thing you had to say," Biden quipped, adding "it's about the same today." Former President Barack Obama's relationship with Netanyahu was acrimonious at times. As vice president, Biden expressed "overwhelming frustration" with Netanyahu's administration and its resistance to a two-state solution, Biden said in 2016.
Tangent
Ben-Gvir, who was elevated last year to his position overseeing Israel's police force and prison system as part of a coalition deal Netanyahu struck to win reelection, is the far-right leader of the nationalist Jewish Power political party. Ben-Gvir has been arrested hundreds of times and convicted for crimes including inciting racism against Arabs and supporting a since-dissolved radical Orthodox terrorist group known as Kach.
Key Background
Biden has faced backlash from the progressive wing of his party as he's refused to back growing calls for a permanent cease-fire in the war, maintaining his stance that doing so would embolden and empower Hamas. The U.S. helped broker a temporary cease-fire last month that led to the release of 105 hostages, but the pause ended when Israel accused Hamas of failing to meet the terms of the deal that required it to release all women being held. The Biden administration has made clear it is closely eyeing Israel's war tactics and has expressed the need for continued humanitarian support for Palestinians in Gaza, while continuing to sharply condemn Hamas. "Hamas to this day continues to hold women, elderly people, civilians in significant numbers . . . so we believe that Israel has the right to defend itself," National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan said Tuesday.
Big Number
38%. That's the share of Democrats who think Biden has shown too much support for Israel, representing a 10-point increase from October, according to a Sunday CBS News/YouGov survey.
What To Watch For
Sullivan will travel to Israel this week to meet with the Israeli war cabinet and discuss "the timetable of this war," he said Tuesday. Biden on Wednesday will meet with families of American hostages taken by Hamas in its Oct. 7 attack in which about 1,200 people were killed in Israel.
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Elections do have consequences and the US 2020 election had serious consequences even beyond US borders. The former President, to his credit took out Soleimani and ISIS as Iran watched in fear. There is no way Hamas would have attacked Israel in the way it did between 2017 and 2021. Now we are not only back to the policies of coddling Iran but the hate that the American left seems to have for Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu has become a part of that "policy." Joe Biden is their tool, and he has sent the same man to talk to Israelis that president Obama sent to coddle Iran.
Fortunately, Israel and its leadership are able to deal with Hamas despite the pressure the Biden team is trying to apply.
Yeah, they watched in fear as they attacked an American military base with ballistic missiles causing multiple American casualties.
More nonsense:
The nonsense and the cowardice came from your guys...Obama & Biden.
As usual, you have no answer to facts. Not surprising since it is your MO.
You know the facts. Trump starved Iran, destroyed ISIS and took out Soleimani. If the Iranians killed an American, Ali Khamenei would have been next, and they knew it. Hamas wouldn't have attacked Israel if Trump were still in office. Biden won't even defend American troops. He sucks Khamenei.
I do know the facts and it's evident that you don't but keep up the rants it's quite intertaining.
You know facts alright. As far as I can see, you only know to make a veiled case for a two-state solution, defend Biden's horrible foreign policy, which is down to getting Israel to concede to a cease fire while hoping an American soldier won't be killed and as we saw the other day: defending racism against whites.
Not a veiled case at all, I'm right out front with the two state solution being the only solution.
Yes, indeed and he is following right in the steps of your hero Ronald Reagan who did the exact same thing to Menachem Begen in 1983 over the shelling off Beirut and for the very same reason that Biden is doing it....Yeah, Reagan was pretty much a pussy and coward as well.
LMAO, if you ever experienced racism against you, you go running to mama.
Veiled in the sense of exposing your sympathies.
I'm right out front with the two state solution being the only solution.
After Oct 7 most people don't see Palestinians living side by side with Jews anymore.
Yes, indeed and he is following right in the steps of your hero Ronald Reagan
Evidently Reagan is your hero since you are the only one that constantly mentions him. Of the American presidents who tried to force Palestinians and Israelis to sit down and make a deal, Reagan would be the least prominent. All those deals btw were violated by the Palestinians.
LMAO, if you ever experienced racism against you, you go running to mama.
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So now you're the Great Karnac, what are my sympathies, Vic? I know, trying to come up with a way that will give Israel security and a home for the Palestinians, and getting rid of the terrorists how horrible is that, no more killing?
Who are most people?
Naw, I don't have any use for Reagan and the reference to him isn't about him trying to force a peace deal it's about how he did exactly what Biden is doing now by putting pressure on Begen to stop the killing of civilians. Funny how you don't want to accept that fact.
Really, who hammered me, I didn't feel anything did you use a toy hammer?
Oh no, you're going to be unpleasant to me, Vic? What is your plan, exercising your lack of experience and knowledge in the M/E, or making up comments and trying to attribute them to me?
LOL, carry on.
Hasn't been in office for HOW long?
ODS.
funny how there's rarely a mention of all the stolen land, illegal settlements, annexations, and ultra nationalist settler provoked incidents in the west bank, for decades...
Really?
Watch the news once in a while, there have been plenty of Palestinian sympathizers bleating all of that worthless shit recently. Keep up!
10% increase? The useful idiots are lining up by the numbers.
Per politico, Kamala Harris has been pushing Biden away from Israel and towards helping Hamas. Apparently, it’s the only thing she’s actually succeeded at her entire time in office.
Perhaps the lefties getting all misty eyed about the poor Palestinians should listen to Bill Maher
Bill Maher to Palestinians: Stop Whining and Grow Up Because Israel Isn't Going Anywhere (townhall.com)
Townhall is a fake news source.
Just like MSNBC
it's part of the christo-fascist sinclair media conglomerate.
but what about...
both sides...
antifa...
You cold always listen to Bill Mahar say it on the video. Or Did Townhall fake the video too? Attacking the source when there is a link to show the person saying it is pretty weak.
Point being don't complain about a source with mixed if you also use sources that are mixed. That would be hypocritical, not that the dems mind being hypocritical.
See 4.1.4
That is one ignorant comment, and your link doesn't help your "case".
They HAVE to attack sources because they can't dispute the truth.
If they HAD a legitimate, rational argument, they would present it instead of crying about the source.
that's what I keep trying to tell the cultists, in vain...
Hard to have an argument when there is a video proving the claim(assuming they even watched it). Attacking the source is all that is left.
but what about...
both sides...
And I remember when libs were quoting Maher and hanging on every word!
Wasn't he one of their prime "news" sources?
R-i-g-h-t.
Must be why you voted up a comment bitching solely about the SOURCE.
LMAO at the sheer hypocrisy!
Maher (and even James Carville) are good examples of real liberals with brains that the treasonous antisemite LWNJ's have left behind.
Where did I post anything from MSNBC?
Where did I say you did? Where did you comment on the content of 4?
Um, because greg posted a link from townhall?
Look, you got called out, might be time to just let it go, ok?
Have a great day.
“Attacking the source is all that is left.”
That, and going after typos. Nothing says shit for brains like going after typos.
You got called out in 4.1.4. Have a chance to look at the video and comment on the post or is whining about the source enough for you?