WASHINGTON — WASHINGTON (AP) — President Joe Biden has increased public pressure on Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s administration, warning he is “hurting Israel” and speaking candidly about “come to Jesus” talks with the leader over the growing humanitarian crisis in Gaza.
Despite Biden’s increased frustration, Israeli officials and Middle East analysts say there are no signs that Biden can push Israel, at least in the short term, to fundamentally change the way it handles the conflict that is entering a new dangerous phase.
“He has the right to defend Israel, the right to continue to pursue Hamas,” Biden said of Netanyahu in an MSNBC interview. “But he must, he must, he must pay more attention to the innocent lives that are being lost as a result of the actions taken. He’s hurting… in my opinion he’s hurting Israel more than he’s helping Israel.”
The president had hoped to broker an extended ceasefire at the start of the Muslim holy month of Ramadan, which begins Monday. Biden administration officials see an agreement on a temporary truce in exchange for dozens of hostages as a crucial step toward finding an eventual permanent end to the conflict.
But in the absence of a deal, Biden acknowledged last week that he is more concerned about the prospect of violence in east Jerusalem. During Ramadan in recent years, clashes have erupted between Palestinians and Israeli security forces around Jerusalem’s Old City, home to key religious sites sacred to Jews, Christians and Muslims and the emotional epicenter of the Middle East conflict.
Biden warned Netanyahu this weekend that an attack on Rafah – where hundreds of thousands of displaced Gazans have gathered – would be a “red line” and that Israel “cannot kill 30,000 more Palestinians.” At the same time, he said his commitment to Israel’s defense is sacred. About 31,000 Palestinians have been killed during the conflict, according to the Hamas-run Health Ministry in Gaza.
The president’s blunt comments came after he was caught on a hot mic after telling a Democratic ally in his State of Union address on Thursday that he had told Netanyahu they would give a “come to Jesus” talk on the humanitarian situation in Gaza.
The US began airborne landings this month and announced it will set up a temporary pier to get much-needed aid to Gaza by sea. UN officials have warned that at least a quarter of Gaza’s 2.3 million residents are one step away from famine. The extraordinary measures to get aid into Gaza have come as Israel resisted US calls to allow more people in via land routes.
And in a move that irritated Netanyahu, Vice President Kamala Harris last week hosted a member of Israel’s war cabinet, Benny Gantz, who came to Washington in defiance of the prime minister. U.S. officials said Harris and other senior advisers to Biden were blunt with Gantz about their concerns about an expected Rafah operation.
Netanyahu pushed back against Biden’s latest comments on Sunday.
“Well, I don’t know exactly what the president meant, but if he meant… that I am pursuing a private policy against the majority, the wishes of the majority of Israelis, and that this is detrimental to Israel’s interests, then he is referring to both points wrong,” Netanyahu said in an excerpt of an interview with Politico released by the prime minister’s office on Sunday.
Biden’s stepped-up criticism of the prime minister’s handling of the war has been a deliberate attempt to signal to Netanyahu that the US president has run out of patience with the rising death toll and lack of aid flow to Gaza, a US official said. is familiar with the president’s thinking. The official was not authorized to comment publicly and requested anonymity.
Elsewhere in Israel, reactions to Biden’s public expression of frustration were mixed.
Israeli opposition leader Yair Lapid said he was not surprised by Biden’s comments. Lapid accused Netanyahu on Sunday of pandering to his base and said the prime minister had narrow political interests at heart, such as appeasing the far-right members of his cabinet.
The US ‘lost confidence in Netanyahu and that is not surprising. “Half of his cabinet has lost confidence in him, as have the majority of Israeli citizens,” Lapid, who was briefly prime minister in 2022, told Israeli Army Radio. .”
Israeli Foreign Minister Israel Katz downplayed Biden’s comments, saying the US supported Israel’s war aims and that was what mattered. “We must distinguish rhetoric from essence,” he told Israeli army radio.
Eytan Gilboa, an expert on US-Israel relations and professor at Israel’s Bar-Ilan University, said Biden’s decision to scale up aid to Gaza and warn Israel about an incursion into Rafah undermined support for Israel’s objectives to dismantle Hamas’ military and administrative capabilities and free the hostages. He said it took the pressure off Hamas to agree to a temporary ceasefire.
He said Biden’s harsher comments of late stemmed from frustration with Netanyahu over his unwillingness to accept the US vision for a post-war Gaza. Biden has called on Middle Eastern stakeholders to revive efforts to find a two-state solution, one in which Israel could coexist with an independent Palestinian state once the current war is over.
However, Netanyahu has consistently opposed the creation of a Palestinian state throughout his political career.
Gilboa said Biden’s comments were made in anticipation of his re-election and were intended to appease progressive Democrats. The president is facing increasing pressure from his party’s left wing to use the considerable influence of the United States as Israel’s main patron to force Netanyahu into a permanent ceasefire.
More than 100,00 Democrats in Michigan cast “unpledged” ballots in the state’s primaries last month, part of a coordinated effort in the battleground state aimed at showing Biden he could lose much-needed support due to frustration over the his government’s approach towards the Israeli government. Hamas war.
“Netanyahu deserved that criticism, but on the other hand, when (Biden) criticizes Netanyahu personally, he thinks he is improving his standing among progressives,” Gilboa said.
Gilboa said that even if another government were to rule Israel, such as a more moderate figure like Gantz, Biden would still find a leadership intent on pushing into Rafah and defeating Hamas.
“They wouldn’t do things significantly differently,” he said. “Is there anyone in their right mind who is willing to leave Hamas in Gaza? That will not happen.”
Biden administration officials are pushing back against the idea that the president has become more outspoken in his criticism of Netanyahu ahead of his 2024 prospects.
It is not lost on Biden that Israelis across the political spectrum remain as aggressive as Netanyahu about eliminating Hamas. Still, Biden believes that by speaking out more forcefully, he can push Israelis to do more to reduce the death toll and alleviate the suffering of innocent Palestinians as Israel carries out its operations, the US official said.
Biden, who last traveled to Israel shortly after Hamas launched its attack on Israel on October 7, said in the MSNBC interview that he was open to traveling to Israel again to speak directly to the Knesset.
Privately, Biden has expressed a desire for aides to make another trip to Israel to try to bypass Netanyahu and deliver his message directly to the people. One possibility being discussed internally for a presidential trip is if a temporary ceasefire is reached. Biden could use the moment to take the case directly to the Israelis for humanitarian aid in Gaza and chart a path to a permanent end to the fighting, officials said.
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Goldberg reported from Tel Aviv and Miller from Wilmington, Del.