President Biden had terse words for Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Friday, and said he didn’t know whether the Israeli leader was holding up a peace deal in order to influence the outcome of the U.S. presidential election.
“No administration has helped Israel more than I have. None. None, none,” Biden said, adding, referring to Netanyahu by his nickname: “And I think Bibi should remember that. And whether he’s trying to influence the election, I don’t know, but I’m not counting on that.”
Biden, in a rare appearance in the White House press briefing room, was responding to comments made by one of his allies, Sen. Christopher S. Murphy (D-Conn.), who said on CNN this week that he was concerned Netanyahu had little interest in a peace deal in part because of U.S. politics.
Biden and Netanyahu have long managed a complicated relationship, but they’re running out of space to maneuver as their views on the Gaza war diverge and their political futures hang in the balance.
The president has long pushed for a cease-fire agreement, and he and his aides have indicated several times over the last few months that such an agreement was close. But it never seems to materialize, and in some cases, Netanyahu has publicly resisted the prospect while U.S. and Israeli officials continued to talk in private about eking out a deal.
Meanwhile, Israel has pressed forward on two fronts, pursuing a ground incursion into Lebanon against Hezbollah and conducting airstrikes in the Gaza Strip. And the nation has vowed to retaliate for Iran’s ballistic missile attack this week, as the region braced for further escalation.
Biden said there had been no decision yet on what type of response there would be toward Iran, though there has been talk about Israel striking Iran’s oil fields — and “I think if I were in their shoes, I’d be thinking about other alternatives than striking oil fields.”
Biden rejected the idea that he was seeking a meeting with Netanyahu to discuss the response to Iran.
“I’m assuming when they make a decision on how they’re going to respond, we will then have a discussion,” he said.
Netanyahu has grown increasingly resistant to Biden’s public urging and private pleading. And Biden in the past has held up delivery of heavy bombs to Israel and increasingly voiced concerns over an all-out war in the Middle East.
“I don’t believe there’s going to be an all-out war,” Biden said Thursday evening. “I think we can avoid it. But there’s a lot to do yet. A lot to do yet.”
Biden has remained consistent in his support for Israel’s defense and security and in the aftermath of the deadly Oct. 7 Hamas attacks in Israel. Since then, with few exceptions, Biden has supported ongoing and enhanced U.S. arms transfers to Israel while cautioning the Israelis to be careful in their responses to avoid civilian casualties.
More than 41,000 Palestinians have been killed in the Gaza war, according to the Gaza Health Ministry. Its figures do not distinguish between combatants and civilians, but they indicate that more than half of the dead are women and children.
Biden has also ordered the U.S. military to step up its profile in the region to protect Israel from attacks by Hamas, Hezbollah, the Iranian-backed Houthi rebels in Yemen and Iran itself. In April, and again earlier this week, the U.S. was a leading player in shooting down missiles fired by Iran into Israel.
Long writes for the Associated Press. Times staff contributed to this report.