Biden frustration with Israel PM grows
WASHINGTON (AFP) – With Gaza’s humanitarian crisis growing more dire and his left flank in uproar, US President Joe Biden is increasingly showing impatience with Israel’s leader and making clear the United States will act on its own – but few expect a dramatic break.
In his State of the Union address on Thursday, Biden announced that the United States would build a temporary pier to bring aid into Gaza, days after the US military started airdropping food and top US officials received a key rival to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
Biden’s frustration with Netanyahu was laid bare after the speech when he was overheard speaking to a senator.
As he was warned that his microphone remained on, Biden said, using Netanyahu’s nickname, “I told him, ‘Bibi,’ – and don’t repeat this – ‘but you and I are going to have a Come to Jesus meeting.’”
The American expression – perhaps jarring when speaking of a Jewish leader in the land where Jesus lived – refers to a dramatic realization that one must correct course.
But the administration has given short shrift to activist calls to use one of the most significant forms of US leverage – cutting military aid – and the 81-year-old president told Congress that he remained a “lifelong supporter of Israel” second to none.
Biden nonetheless directly addressed the Israeli leadership in his speech, warning not to use aid as a “bargaining chip” in Gaza, where the vast majority of the two million people have been displaced and the United Nations has warned of famine risks.
Biden repeated on Friday that Netanyahu must do more to bring relief into the Hamas-led territory, which has been pounded by Israel since militants on Oct. 7 infiltrated Israel and killed 1,160 people, mostly civilians, in the country’s deadliest ever attack, according to Israeli figures.
Vowing to eradicate Hamas, Israel launched an offensive that has killed more than 30,000 people, also mostly civilians, according to Gaza’s health ministry.
The United States has coordinated with Israel on the aid deliveries, including by ensuring the temporary port is supplied from Cyprus and not an Arab country.
But such aid delivery is more commonly associated with remote or hostile territories, not an area under control of a US partner and a top recipient of aid.