What Biden Reportedly Told Netanyahu During Private Phone Call Does Not Line Up with Reality
President Joe Biden told Israel’s Benjamin Netanyahu during a call from office that he’s not trying to depose the prime minister, despite public comments that seem to speak otherwise, according to Axios.
The report Tuesday — which cited “two sources with knowledge of the call” — said Biden denied undermining the Israeli leader politically or trying to push him out of office when they spoke Monday.
If the president did make such a claim, it seems to fly in the face of what has been going on with members of the Democrat Party in recent months as Israel continues to work toward the destruction of the vicious Palestinian terrorist outfit Hamas.
Netanyahu declared war on the group after it killed 1,200 people, most of them civilians, and took many others hostage during an Oct. 7 attack on Israel.
Democrats have been pressuring Biden to demand that Israel initiate a cease-fire instead of continuing to work toward the end of Hamas.
Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, for instance, stirred controversy on Thursday when he took to the floor of the U.S. Senate and indicated he wanted a change in leadership in Israel.
“Prime Minister Netanyahu has lost his way by allowing his political survival to take the precedence over the best interests of Israel,” Schumer said.
“Nobody expects Prime Minister Netanyahu to do the things that must be done to break the cycle of violence, to preserve Israel’s credibility on the world stage and to work towards a two-state solution,” the New York Democrat declared.
“At this critical juncture, I believe a new election is the only way to allow for a healthy and open decision-making process about the future of Israel,” he said.
“Hamas and the Palestinians who support and tolerate their evil ways, radical right-wing Israelis in government and society, [Palestinian] President [Mahmoud] Abbas, Prime Minister Netanyahu — these are the four obstacles to peace,” Schumer said.
Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer on Thursday called on Israel to hold new elections, saying he believes Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has “lost his way.” pic.twitter.com/70y3q22XNW
— The Associated Press (@AP) March 14, 2024
With this full-frontal attack on Israel delivered by one of the most powerful Democrats in the U.S. still ringing across the world, Biden was seen praising the senator’s stance.
The president called Schumer’s outrageous attempt to interfere in Israel’s politics “a good speech,” according to CBS News.
“I’m not going to elaborate on the speech,” he said on Friday. “He made a good speech, and I think he expressed a serious concern shared not only by him but by many Americans.”
After that, it seems a bit disingenuous for Biden to claim he is not interested in deposing Netanyahu.
It seems clear that the U.S. and Israeli leaders have had a strained relationship for some time. On March 11, for instance, Netanyahu said he had no intention of obeying Biden’s “red line” in Gaza. The president’s claim that he would not support Israel’s further actions in Rafah held little sway for the prime minister.
“We’ll go there,” Netanyahu said of Rafah. “We’re not going to leave them. You know, I have a red line. You know what the red line is? That Oct. 7 doesn’t happen again. Never happens again.”
Further evidence that things are not well between the two men came in a report last month.
NBC News reported Biden was heard attacking the Israeli prime minister as an “a**hole” on at least three occasions.
The president also slammed Netanyahu further, according to unnamed sources.
“He did say Bibi started off great, but ‘he’s been a pain in my a** lately’ or ‘he’s been killing me lately’ — one of those things,” one source said of Biden’s comments. “He goes, ‘But he’s doing a disservice … of late.'”
In all, it is clear that the president is not happy with Israel and its leaders. Biden wants an end to the war on Hamas, especially in light of the Democrat Party’s increasing anti-Israel sentiment. He is pandering to the extreme, anti-Israel left, and Netanyahu is standing in his way.
If Biden really did tell Netanyahu he isn’t working to destroy the Israeli leader’s political career, he surely was either being disingenuous or experiencing a mental lapse.
Truth and Accuracy
We are committed to truth and accuracy in all of our journalism. Read our editorial standards.
