Netanyahu’s disrespect has finally forced Biden’s hand

There has never been any love lost between US president Joe Biden and Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu, but until this week, one could usually say with high confidence that their dysfunctional personal relationship would take a backseat to the historic alliance between the US and Israel. Not any more.

Mr Netanyahu, the longest-serving head of government in Israel’s 75 years of statehood, had been experiencing a cold shoulder of sorts from Mr Biden after returning to government. The president was wary of his Israeli counterpart on account of Mr Netanyahu and the Likud Party’s efforts to remake Israel’s judiciary into a more political, more compliant and less powerful entity. And Mr Netanyahu’s long history of antagonising US leaders elected from the Democratic Party was well known.

Then the terror attacks on October 7 happened. The sheer brutality of Hamas’ assault and the existential threat to Israel posed by the militant group outweighed what Biden aides have described as a healthy scepticism of Mr Netanyahu’s intentions. The two leaders got a little closer.

The president’s natural inclination to support Israel’s right to self-defence, Biden confidantes say, took precedence over prominent Democrats’ suggestion that he take a more realpolitik-infused approach to the US-Israel relationship. Doing so would have been a marked departure from decades of US policy. But it would also have been more in line with the preferences of many US voters, who, according to polling, support Israel’s right to self-defence but also don’t want to see Palestinian civilians killed en masse.

Mr Biden, for better or worse, had calculated that doing what he estimated to be the right thing – supporting Israel’s war efforts – rather than the politically expedient thing would pay dividends in the end.

But Mr Netanyahu made this impossible for him. The Israeli leader – who is fighting corruption charges that could see him jailed if he were to leave office – chose to take the hard line favoured by the right-wing extremists to whom he owes his return to the premiership. At every turn, Mr Netanyahu made a point of thumbing his nose at Mr Biden. Now, by refusing to heed the president’s counsel to stay out of Rafah, he has forced Mr Biden’s hand.

Mr Biden declared during a televised interview that the US will not provide Israel with the types of arms that could be used to effect a wholesale slaughter in Rafah.

In a video posted to social media not long after Mr Biden’s interview, Mr Netanyahu said “no amount of pressure” will “stop Israel from defending itself ” and declared: “If Israel is forced to stand alone, Israel will stand alone.”

John Kirby, the national security communications adviser for Mr Biden, told reporters that the president’s statement didn’t portend any major change in US policy.

But the damage is done. By forcing Mr Biden to declare that the US won’t support a wholesale invasion of Rafah after making a show of ignoring his counsel, Mr Netanyahu has now made it possible that he or his successors may have to abide by the same rules everyone else does when making use of American weapons. (© The Independent)

‘Netanyahu chose to take the hard line favoured by the right-wing extremists to whom he owes his return to the premiership’