Biden tells Israel’s Netanyahu future US support for war depends on new steps to protect civilians
WASHINGTON – President Joe Biden issued a stark warning to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Thursday that future U.S. support for Israel’s Gaza war depends on the swift implementation of new steps to protect civilians and aid workers.
Biden and Netanyahu ‘s roughly 30-minute call just days after Israeli airstrikes killed seven food aid workers in Gaza added a new layer of complication to the leaders’ increasingly strained relationship.
Biden’s message marks a sharp change in his administration’s steadfast support for Israel’s war efforts, with the U.S. leader for the first time threatening to rethink his backing if Israel doesn’t change its tactics and allow much more humanitarian aid into Gaza.
The White House would not specify what could change about U.S. policy, but it could include altering military sales to Israel and America’s diplomatic backup on the world stage.
Netanyahu’s office said early Friday that his Security Cabinet has approved a series of “immediate steps” to increase the flow of humanitarian aid into Gaza, including the reopening of a key crossing that was destroyed in the Oct. 7 Hamas attack.
Administration officials had said before that announcement that the U.S. would assess whether the Israeli moves go far enough.
Biden “made clear the need for Israel to announce and implement a series of specific, concrete, and measurable steps to address civilian harm, humanitarian suffering, and the safety of aid workers,” the White House said in a statement following the leaders’ call. “He made clear that U.S. policy with respect to Gaza will be determined by our assessment of Israel’s immediate action on these steps.”
Biden also told Netanyahu that reaching an “immediate cease-fire” in exchange for the estimated 100 hostages that are still being held in Gaza was “essential” and urged Israel to reach such an accord “without delay,” according to the White House. Administration officials described the conversation as “direct” and “honest.”
Netanyahu’s office said the Erez crossing, which for years served as the only passenger terminal
for people to move in and out of Gaza, would be temporarily reopened. It also said Israel would allow its Ashdod port to be used to process aid shipments bound for Gaza and allow increased Jordanian aid shipments through another land crossing. The announcement
did not elaborate on quantities or types of items to be let in.
White House National Security Council spokesperson Adrienne Watson welcomed the moves by Netanyahu, adding that
an identity chip implanted in her with information about her owners.
Mehrad Houman and his family live in San Diego but were planning to travel to Minnesota when the call came in. He landed there and then drove 10 hours to Michigan for a reunion with Mishka, the adoption group said on a Facebook post with pictures and video.
“This is a tale that Hollywood would love to tell,” the group said.
Mishka had wandered away from Houman’s workplace, an auto garage, in July and never returned. Her collar had the family’s phone number.
“We think it was stolen and then it was sold and ended up in Michigan,” said Corinne Martin, director of the animal welfare group.
Houman’s wife, Elizabeth, said it’s “been an incredible journey.”
“I never gave up,” she said Thursday. “I put up over a thousand flyers. I had a flyer on my back windshield. I wore her leash whenever I would look for her . ... Now I just want to find out how she got to Michigan.”
Veterinarian Nancy Pillsbury examined 3-year-old Mishka, gave her a rabies shot and cleared her to travel home to California.
“She was clean, wellfed. Whoever had her took good care of her,” Pillsbury told The Associated Press. “How she got here – that’s a story only Mishka knows.”