Biden and Netanyahu on a collision course?

[Pelican Press 0]

Biden and Netanyahu on a collision course?

US President Joe Biden (L) and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu (R) meet in Tel Aviv, ******* on October 18, 2023. (Photo by GPO/ Handout/Anadolu via Getty Images)

GPO | Anadolu Agency | Getty Images

Visible tensions are appearing in the historically close relationship between the White House and *******, as the war in Gaza becomes a

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and ******** Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu resists the Biden administration’s push for a change in course.

While Biden vocally supports *******’s stated goals of defeating ****** and rescuing the hostages that the ************ militant group took captive during its Oct. 7 rampage in southern ******* that ******* some 1,200 people, he and other administration officials have

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of the way in which ******* is carrying out its operations in the Gaza Strip. 

*******’s relentless aerial bombardment and expanding ground invasion, as well as the cutting of Gaza’s water and power supplies, have ******* more than 30,000 Palestinians there, according to Gaza’s health ministry, which is run by ******. And ******** restrictions on the aid that can enter the besieged enclave, which is blockaded on all sides, have pushed more than

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, according to the ******* Nations.

Still, the Biden administration has suggested no pullback in the military aid it is providing for *******, and consistently provides diplomatic cover for it at the U.N., often being the sole country vetoing international demands for a cease-*****.     

An aerial view of the heavily damaged buildings, part of which collapsed, after ******** attacks in Rafah, Gaza on February 12, 2024.

Yasser Qudih | Anadolu | Getty Images

Biden has also stressed what his administration says is the need for an independent ************ state as part of the path to a durable peace — something Netanyahu ardently opposes. The right-wing ******** leader has also rejected Biden’s proposals of a leading role for the West Bank-based ************ Authority in Gaza’s future once the war ends.  

“These and other divisions are putting the entire ‘special relationship’ between the U.S. and ******* under pressure I have never seen before in my lifetime,” Hussein Ibish, a senior resident scholar at the ***** Gulf States Institute in Washington, told CNBC. “The relationship [between Biden and Netanyahu] is absolutely terrible.”

A

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in early February cited unnamed Biden administration officials describing the president calling Netanyahu a “bad f—ng guy.” His spokespeople have denied it, saying that the leaders have “a decades-long relationship that is respectful in public and in private.”

******** war cabinet member Benny Gantz (L) meets US Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, Democrat of New York, at the US Capitol on March 05, 2024.

Roberto Schmidt | AFP | Getty Images

The reported rift appeared to worsen as ******** war cabinet member Benny Gantz, a longtime rival of Netanyahu and considered to be more moderate, paid a visit to Washington this week at the invitation of the White House. According to a

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, the visit “enraged” Netanyahu, “who ordered the ******** embassy in Washington to not take any part in the visit or assist Gantz in any way.”

Gantz reportedly faced a

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and critiques from the administration over *******’s handling of the Gaza war.

CNBC has reached out to the White House and the ******** Prime Minister’s Office for comment.

Election worries and ‘campaign mode’

As the U.S. General Election nears, promising a rematch between Biden and former President Donald Trump, Biden is facing a domestic challenge over his support for *******’s war in Gaza, particularly from many young liberals and ******* and ***** Americans. 

This threatens to cost him crucial votes, particularly in swing states. Vice President Kamala Harris issued harsh comments in a speech on Sunday urging a cease-*****, saying “People in Gaza are starving. The conditions are inhumane.”

A man explains the importance of voting ‘uncommited’ as he hands out fliers outside the Islamic Center of Detroit to ask voters to vote ‘uncommitted’ in Michigan Primary elections on Tuesday, in Michigan, ******* States on February 26, 2024. 

Mostafa Bassim | Anadolu | Getty Images

But Netanyahu is insistent that a cease-***** would threaten the ******** Defense Force’s momentum, and that “total victory is within reach.” Some observers say his rhetoric is aimed at staying in power as his domestic approval rating sits at its lowest of his more than 16 years at the helm.

“It seems to me that Netanyahu is in a full campaign mode, and that presently, its main theme is resisting the emerging Biden strategy and the president himself,” Nimrod Novik, a fellow at the ******* Policy Forum, which is dedicated to advancing a two-state outcome to the conflict.

Particularly telling, Novik said, is “Netanyahu’s decision to preempt the emerging Biden strategy – which offers ******* a way out of Gaza, a hopeful change on the West Bank, as well as Saudi normalization and regional integration – by distorting this unprecedented offer and portraying it as an imposition.”

“The prime minister is focused on securing and energizing his ever-shrinking base,” he said of Netanyahu. “That base is as hard line as they come and responds best to nationalist machismo as in his promise to defend ******* from the imagined Biden imposition of a ************ state.”

About 200 trucks loaded with humanitarian aid, cooking gas and fuel enter the Gaza Strip during the humanitarian pause between ******* and ****** in Gaza City, Gaza on November 28, 2023. 

Ashraf Amra | Anadolu | Getty Images

“I’ve watched the [Biden] administration express its being fed up with the Netanyahu policy, from haggling over every truck of humanitarian assistance, through announcing West Bank triggering settlement expansion at such an explosive moment, to provocations on Temple Mount on the eve of the holy ******* month of Ramadan,” Novik said. 

But this is going largely ignored in the ******** administration, he noted. “What might sound in Washington as a scream is hardly a whisper in Jerusalem.”

Ibish had similar observations. 

“All the ********* support, especially from Biden personally, is being met with total ingratitude and actually with disdain,” from Netanyahu’s government, he said. 

“If Biden were getting more cooperation from Netanyahu [and] the Israelis, he would not be pulling away from them, albeit carefully and subtly. This is, after all, an election year, and he will have to be very careful.”

Unprecedented support

Yonatan Freeman, an international relations and media lecturer at *******’s Hebrew University, believes the historically close relationship between the two countries will supersede the relationships between individual administrations and leaders.

“I think looking from a bird’s eye view we have to really focus on U.S.-******* relations. And I don’t remember another war that ******* fought where it received so much support from a U.S. administration,” Freeman said. “Just as one example, the airlifting of U.S. military equipment to ******* occurred almost immediately …  it never stopped.” 

Still, he added, there is a broad perception among Israelis and many ********* Jews that former president Donald Trump was the most pro-******* president in U.S. history. 

“I think that this might be critical in some of the swing states where we have large ******* and ********-********* populations.” Roughly a quarter of Americans also identify as Evangelical **********,

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“So yes, this is something that could impact the elections,” Freeman said, adding that Biden’s hope of achieving normalization between ******* and Saudi Arabia is also on hold for the time being. 

“That would bring him great points in terms of *******, but also in terms of foreign policy, where Biden is looking for successes on the world stage,” he said. “But it seems like there aren’t many.”

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*******,Benjamin Netanyahu,Government and politics,Foreign policy,Gaza,Breaking News: Politics,Politics,Terrorism,Defense,Elections,************ territories,Joe Biden,Middle East,business news
#Biden #Netanyahu #collision

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