U.S. President Joe Biden (left) and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu (right) meet in Tel Aviv, Israel, on October 18, 2023. (Photo courtesy of GPO/Handout/Anadolu via Getty Images)
General Administration | Anadolu Agency | Getty Images
There are palpable tensions in the relationship between the White House and Israel as the Gaza war becomes a historically close affair. Worsening humanitarian disaster Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has resisted efforts by the Biden administration to change course.
While Biden publicly supports Israel’s stated goal of defeating Hamas and rescuing hostages from the Palestinian militant group’s Oct. 7 attack in southern Israel that killed about 1,200 people, he and other administration officials said: expressing growing criticism The way Israel operates in Gaza.
Israel’s relentless aerial bombardment and expanding ground incursions, as well as cutting off Gaza’s water and electricity supplies, have killed more than 30,000 Palestinians, according to the Hamas-run health ministry in Gaza.Israel has imposed restrictions on aid entering the besieged enclave, which is surrounded by blockades on all sides, which has resulted in more than 500,000 people fall into famineAccording to the United Nations.
Still, the Biden administration has refused to withdraw military aid to Israel and has consistently provided it with diplomatic cover at the United Nations, often being the only country to veto international calls for a ceasefire.
Aerial view of heavily damaged buildings, with some collapsed, after the Israeli attack on Gaza Sharafah on February 12, 2024.
Yasir Kudi | Anadolu | Getty Images
Biden also emphasized what his administration says is the need for an independent Palestinian state as part of a path to lasting peace — something Netanyahu strongly opposes. The right-wing Israeli leader also rejected Biden’s proposal to give the Palestinian Authority in the West Bank a leading role in Gaza’s future after the war ends.
Hussein Ibish, senior resident scholar at the Arab Gulf States Institute in Washington, told CNBC: “These and other disagreements put the entire ‘special relationship’ between the United States and Israel in a position that I have never seen in my lifetime. “The relationship[between Biden and Netanyahu]is absolutely terrible.”
A political reporting In early February, unnamed Biden administration officials said the president called Netanyahu a “bad guy.” His spokesman denied this, saying the two leaders “have a decades-long relationship and respect each other both in public and private”.
Israel’s war cabinet member Benny Gantz (left) meets with U.S. Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., at the U.S. Capitol on March 5, 2024.
Roberto Schmidt | AFP | Getty Images
The reported differences appeared to worsen when Benny Gantz, a member of Israel’s war cabinet and a longtime rival of Netanyahu who is considered more moderate, visited Washington this week at the invitation of the White House.according to a Report by AxiosThe visit “outraged” Netanyahu, “who ordered the Israeli Embassy in Washington not to participate in the visit or assist Gantz in any way”.
Gantz reportedly faces a series of tough questions and the government’s criticism of Israel’s handling of the Gaza war.
CNBC has reached out to the White House and the Israeli Prime Minister’s Office for comment.
Election concerns and “campaign mode”
As the U.S. election approaches, Biden promises a rematch with former President Trump. Biden faces domestic challenges, particularly from many young liberals and Muslims and Arab Americans, for his support of Israel’s Gaza war.
That could cost him crucial votes, especially in battleground states. Vice President Kamala Harris made scathing comments in a speech on Sunday urging a ceasefire, saying “the people of Gaza are starving. Conditions are inhumane.”
In his State of the Union address on Thursday, Biden lamented the scale of suffering in Gaza, saying: “I say this to the Israeli leader: Humanitarian aid cannot be a secondary consideration or a bargaining chip. Protect and save innocents. Life must be a priority.”
He later heard on hot mic Expressing his disappointment with Netanyahu, he said the two leaders needed to have a “come to Jesus meeting.”
In Michigan, the United States, on February 26, 2024, a man distributed leaflets outside the Islamic Center of Detroit on Tuesday, asking voters to “no pledge” to vote in the Michigan primary election and explaining the importance of “no pledge” to vote.
Mustafa Basim | Anadolu | Getty Images
But Netanyahu insisted a ceasefire would threaten the IDF’s momentum and that “complete victory is within reach”. Some observers said his rhetoric was aimed at clinging to power as his domestic approval ratings are currently at their lowest in his 16 years in power.
“It seems to me that Netanyahu is in full campaign mode, which right now is about resisting the emerging Biden strategy and the president himself,” said Nimrod Novick, a researcher at the Israel Policy Forum. The two sides of the conflict. country results.
Particularly striking, Novick said, was “Netanyahu’s decision to pre-emptively offer Israel a way out of Gaza, bring about promising change in the West Bank, and Saudi Arabia’s normalization and Regional integration – by twisting this unprecedented proposal and portraying it as an imposition.”
“The prime minister is focused on securing and strengthening his shrinking base,” he said of Netanyahu. “This base is as hard-line as they come and responds best to nationalist machismo, as he Commit to defending Israel from an imagined Palestinian state imposed by Biden.”
On November 28, 2023, during the humanitarian pause between Israel and Hamas in Gaza City, approximately 200 trucks loaded with humanitarian aid, cooking gas and fuel entered the Gaza Strip.
Ashraf Amra | Anadolu | Getty Images
“I’ve watched the (Biden) administration express its weariness with Netanyahu’s policies, from haggling for every truckload of humanitarian aid, to announcing a triggering settlement expansion in the West Bank at such an explosive moment, to the eve’s attack on the Temple Mount provocation during the Muslim holy month of Ramadan,” Novick said.
But he noted that the Israeli government has largely ignored this. “What sounds like a scream in Washington is hardly a whisper in Jerusalem.”
Ibish made similar observations.
“All American support, especially Biden’s personal support, has been met with complete ingratitude and contempt by the Netanyahu government,” he said.
“If Biden can get more cooperation from Netanyahu (and) the Israelis, he won’t stay away from them, albeit carefully and subtly. After all, this is an election year and he has to be very careful.”
Unprecedented support
Yonatan Freeman, a lecturer in international relations and media at Israel’s Hebrew University, believes that the historically close relationship between the two countries will supersede the relationship between individual governments and leaders.
“I think, as a whole, we have to really focus on the U.S.-Israel relationship. And I don’t remember Israel fighting another war where it had so much support from the U.S. government,” Freeman said. “For example, The U.S. airlift of military equipment to Israel happened almost immediately…it never stopped.”
However, he added that Israelis and many American Jews generally view former President Trump as the most pro-Israel president in U.S. history.
“I think this could be critical in some swing states that have large Jewish and Israeli-American populations.” About a quarter of Americans also identify as evangelical Christians, The group is generally very pro-Israel.
“So, yes, this could impact the election,” Freeman said, adding that Biden’s hopes of normalizing ties between Israel and Saudi Arabia are also on hold.
“It’s going to do a lot of good for him on the Israeli side but also on the foreign policy side where Biden is looking to succeed on the world stage,” he said. “But it doesn’t seem like there’s a lot of it.”
About The Author
