US President Joe Biden’s attempts to separate the Israeli leadership from its people are false, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Sunday. He was responding to the US administration’s heightened criticism of the IDF’s war effort.
“These are not my private policies only; they are policies supported by the overwhelming majority of the Israelis,” Netanyahu told Politico, a Washington-based news organization.
On Saturday, Biden said Netanyahu was undermining the values on which Israel was founded and is harming the country with his handling of the Gaza war.
“He [Netanyahu] has a right to defend Israel, a right to continue to pursue Hamas, but he must, he must, he must pay more attention to the innocent lives being lost as a consequence of the actions taken,” he told MSNBC.“He is hurting Israel more than helping Israel... it is contrary to what Israel stands for, and I think it’s a big mistake,” Biden said.
Netanyahu told Politico: If Biden meant “that I am pursuing private policies against the wish of the majority of Israelis, and that this is hurting the interests of Israel, then he is wrong on both counts.”
PA cannot take control of Gaza
Israelis support IDF action in Gaza to destroy Hamas, and they do not want to see a Palestinian Authority in Gaza that finances terrorism, nor do they back a Palestinian state “rammed down their throats,” he said.
The majority of Israelis understand that they are under threat of another October 7-style attack unless Hamas is defeated in Gaza, Netanyahu said.
A second such attack would be “bad for Israel, bad for the Palestinians, bad for the future of peace in the Middle East,” he said. “So, the attempt to say that my policies are my private policies that are not supported by most Israelis is false.”
“The vast majority are united as never before, and they understand what’s good for Israel,” Netanyahu said. “They understand what’s important for Israel, and I think they’re right.”
The two men exchanged barbs amid growing tensions between Israel and the US over Israel’s conduct of its military campaign to destroy Hamas in Gaza. The US supports the operation in principle but has otherwise opposed elements of it.
The US has been concerned, in particular, by the high fatality count, with Hamas asserting that more than 31,000 Palestinians have been killed since the start of the war. Israel has said more than 11,000 of the fatalities have been combatants.
The US has also argued that Israel has not done enough to contain the humanitarian disaster that accompanied its military campaign, during which it has taken out roads, infrastructure, and the governance system, making it difficult, and in some cases impossible, to distribute aid.
During a private comment Biden made last Thursday, which was caught on microphone, he said he needed a “come to Jesus meeting” with Netanyahu on the issue of humanitarian aid for Gaza.
When pressed by MSNBC about what he meant by that comment, Biden said it was a euphemism for a “serious meeting.”
“I have known Bibi for 50 years, and he knew what I meant by it,” he said.Biden was careful to stress to MSNBC that irrespective of his thoughts on Netanyahu, he supported Israel, particularly concerning defensive weapons.
“I am never going to leave Israel,” Biden said.
“The defense of Israel is still critical, so there is no redline where I am going to cut off all weapons so they do not have the Iron Dome to protect them,” Biden added.
Lines that Israel should not cross
Within that framework, there are still redlines Israel should not cross, such as a military operation in Rafah, he said.Biden has stressed in the past that the US would only support such an operation if Israel presented a plan to protect the more than 1.3 million Palestinians located in the area of Rafah, many of whom fled there to escape Israeli aerial bombings in the northern part of the enclave.
“You cannot have 30,000 more Palestinian dead as a consequence of going after [Hamas],” he said. “There are other ways to... get to Hamas.”
Biden recalled how when he visited Israel last October, he had sat with the country’s war cabinet and warned it not to make the same mistakes the US had made when it entered Iraq and Afghanistan in the aftermath of the September 11 terrorist attacks on the Twin Towers in New York in 2001.
“The first time I went over, I sat with the war cabinet,” Biden said. “I said, ‘Do not make the mistake America made,’… we should not have gone into the whole thing in Iraq and Afghanistan. It was not necessary. It was not necessary. It caused more problems than it cured.”
When asked by MSNBC if he would consider a second trip to Israel that would include an address to the Knesset, he said, “Yes,” but then added, “I would rather not discuss more.” When pressed again as to the significance of his remarks, he said, “It doesn’t mean anything.”
Biden also spoke of US efforts to increase humanitarian assistance to Gaza.
US increases humanitarian aid to Gaza
During his annual State of the Union address to Congress on Thursday night, Biden said the US military was planning to build a floating pier off of the Gaza coast for cargo ships, given that the enclave lacked a port large enough for such vessels to dock.
Biden told MSNBC the US was also airdropping supplies over Gaza and was pressuring Israel to open up another crossing into the northern part of the enclave.
“This is a desperate situation,” he said. “Food, medicine [are] badly needed, and it’s needed now.”Biden spoke with MSNBC in advance of a campaign trip to the swing state of Michigan this week, which has a strong pro-Palestinian population.
Biden pushed back at MSNBC’s description of pro-Palestinian voters as ones who believe that Israel is committing genocide in Gaza.
“What they said was that they are upset, and I don’t blame them for being upset,” he said. “There are families there, there are people who are dying, and they want something done about it.
“They are saying, “Joe, do something, do something,’ but the idea that they will think it is genocide is a different situation. I can fully understand, can’t you? You have a family member or come from a family that is still isolated there and maybe be victimized… and that is why I am doing everything I can to try and stop it,” Biden said.
The situation in Gaza is not comparable to the Allies’ military operations in World War II, he said.
“After what happened in World War II and the carpet bombing that took place, we changed the rules of the game and what constitutes legitimate rules of war, and that should be abided by,” he said, insinuating that the IDF had violated international humanitarian law in Gaza.
Efforts remained underway for a deal that would free hostages in exchange for a six-week pause to the war and the release of Palestinian security prisoners and terrorists held in Israeli jails, Biden said.
CIA Director William Burns was in the region “right this minute, still talking about it,” he said.
Hamas “would like a total ceasefire across the board because then they have a better chance to survive and then rebuild,” he added.
“I want to see a ceasefire – with a major, major exchange of prisoners – for six weeks,” Biden said. “We are going into Ramadan. There should be nothing happening, and we should build off of that ceasefire.”
The focus now should be on what comes after the war, which includes a normalization process between Israel and the Arab countries and then moves to rebuild the region, he said.
Biden was referring to the Saudi deal the US is pushing, which would also include a diplomatic path to Palestinian statehood.
“That is the focus: what comes after Gaza, what is next,” he said. “It’s a tough decision, but here is a lot that can be done.”