- The president said: ‘I don’t think so’ when asked if Bibi was ‘playing politics’
- But in a new Time interview, he addressed the question of whether Israel was acting out of self-interest
President Joe Biden has credited Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu with grappling with a serious situation — and not playing politics — when asked about his latest take on the Gaza war, which is complicating his own re-election.
The president asked a question at the end of a statement about his new executive order on immigration and asylum applications.
He plucked the off-topic question from a clash of shouted questions after the event, as he broke new ground on an issue that has caused trouble throughout his tenure.
A network reporter asked whether the controversial Israeli prime minister was “playing politics with the war.”
‘I do not think so. He’s trying to solve a serious problem that he has,” Biden responded, crediting Netanyahu with good faith.
It followed comments by Biden about Netanyahu in a new Time Magazine interview, conducted on May 28, when Biden was asked whether Netanyahu was prolonging the war for his own self-preservation.
“He’s trying to solve a serious problem that he has,” President Joe Biden said, when asked whether Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu was playing politics with the war in Gaza.
‘I’m not going to comment on that. There is every reason for people to draw that conclusion,” Biden responded. He then cited a domestic political battle in Israel over a constitutional court. “And so it’s an internal domestic debate that doesn’t seem to have any consequences. And whether he would change his position or not is difficult to say, but it has not helped,” he added.
But he seemed reluctant to criticize Netanyahu for bearing responsibility for the horrific Oct. 7 Hamas attack in Israel.
‘I don’t understand how anyone can bear that responsibility. He was the leader of the country, so that’s why it happened. But he wasn’t the only one who didn’t pick up on it,” Biden said.
Rival Donald Trump had said October 7 “should never have happened,” but it did [Netanyahu’s] watch.’
Senior Democrats fear Israel’s war in Gaza could expose intra-party divisions as a divisive conflict could continue at least until the US elections in November. Netanyahu vows to destroy Hamas.
Biden on Monday praised a phased deal to end the war in a sign of the urgency of the issue, which still sees hostages of American citizens being held in Gaza.