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Joe Biden said Benjamin Netanyahu must change course and warned that Israel's “indiscriminate bombing” in Gaza could push the country into isolation.
The US president delivered his harshest criticism of the Israeli prime minister's far-right coalition since the Jewish state began its military offensive in response to the October 7 Hamas attack, saying Israel was beginning to lose. . . Support” around the world.
Speaking to donors at a political fundraiser, Biden described Netanyahu's coalition as “the most conservative government in Israel's history.” . .[that]doesn’t want a two-state solution.”
Biden said: “I think he needs to change, and with this administration, this government in Israel, it's going to be made very difficult for him to move.”
So far, Biden had largely resisted putting pressure on Netanyahu publicly, although U.S. officials said they had had difficult conversations in private. The US president has publicly been a staunch supporter of Israel throughout his political career, including his current war effort.
A US official said Biden's comments were not part of an orchestrated attempt by the White House to pressure Netanyahu but were “off the cuff” and “random”.
Later on Tuesday, in a joint press conference with Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelensky at the White House, Biden said he had “made it clear to the Israelis, and they are aware, that…” . The safety of innocent Palestinians remains a matter of grave concern.”
The US president added that Israeli actions “must be consistent with trying to do everything possible to prevent innocent Palestinian civilians from being injured, murdered, killed, lost, etc.”
Biden said he could not confirm “claims” that there were no hostages in Gaza tunnels that Israel expected to flood during its military operations. “I know, however, that every civilian death is an absolute tragedy and Israel has stated its intention to match its words and intentions with action,” he said. “I talked about that today.”
The US last week vetoed a widely supported UN Security Council resolution calling for an immediate humanitarian ceasefire, which was bitterly rejected by Israel.
Biden's advisers, including Vice President Kamala Harris, Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin and Secretary of State Antony Blinken, have been more vocal in their criticism of Israel and its approach to its military efforts in Gaza. According to Palestinian officials, the death toll in the Gaza Strip was over 18,000 people.
U.S. national security adviser Jake Sullivan is traveling to Israel this week to get a better sense of the Jewish state's war plans and their timing. Biden said Austin would also travel to the Middle East to discuss “international efforts to protect the free flow of trade through the Red Sea.” US officials expect the fighting to reach a new phase as early as January.
The Biden administration has also been working on plans for the postwar Gaza Strip. Privately, Western and Arab diplomats say it will be virtually impossible to reach any two-state solution as long as Netanyahu remains in power.
Netanyahu had previously promised during the campaign that he would block the creation of a Palestinian state and in recent days has sharply criticized the Oslo Accords, the 1990s accords that created the Palestinian Authority.
Earlier on Tuesday, Netanyahu acknowledged that his government and the Biden administration disagreed over how to manage Gaza after the end of Israel's war with Hamas, but said he hoped they could still reach an agreement.
Benjamin Netanyahu said he expected Israel to remain present in Gaza indefinitely and ruled out that an international force would play a role in security after the war © APThe US is pushing for the Palestinian Authority – which ruled Gaza until it was overthrown by Hamas in 2007 and still exercises limited self-rule in parts of the occupied West Bank – to play a significant role in Gaza's postwar governance.
However, Netanyahu has repeatedly said he would oppose the PA's return to Gaza and reiterated that stance on Tuesday. “Gaza will be neither Hamastan nor Fatahstan,” he said in a statement, referring to PA President Mahmoud Abbas’s Fatah faction.
“Yes, there is disagreement about 'the day after Hamas' and I hope we can reach an agreement here too.”
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Netanyahu, who dominated Israeli politics for 15 years, returned to power last year after a brief period of opposition by forming a coalition with religious Zionist and ultra-Orthodox parties.
His cabinet includes National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir, who was convicted of anti-Arab incitement in 2007, and Bezalel Smotrich, another ultranationalist settler whom he appointed finance minister.
The US has also made it clear to Israel that it does not want the Jewish state to occupy the Gaza Strip. Netanyahu said he expected Israel to maintain a presence there indefinitely and ruled out an international force following the war sparked by Hamas attacks that killed 1,200 people, according to Israeli officials would play a role in security.
“I think Israel will be in charge of security indefinitely,” Netanyahu told ABC News last month. “We’ve seen what happens when we don’t have that. . . Given the security responsibility, we are dealing with the outbreak of Hamas terror on a scale we cannot imagine.”