To put things in perspective, the US government has been skeptical of Netanyahu’s plan of carrying out an operation in the southern city of Rafah.
Joe Biden-Benjamin Netanyahu Talk: Amidst the ongoing military conflict in Israel and Palestine, US President Joe Biden and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu spoke on Monday for the first time in more than a month, as the divide has grown between the two leaders over the food crisis in Gaza and conduct of the war, according to the White House.
It is being said that the call was made after Republicans in Washington and Israeli officials expressed outrage over Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer’s sharp criticism of Netanyahu’s handling of the war in Gaza and called for Israel to hold new elections. They accused Chuck Schumer of breaking the unwritten rule against interfering in a close ally’s electoral politics.
Meanwhile, Biden did not endorse Schumer’s call for election but said he thought he gave a ‘good speech’ that reflected the concerns of many Americans.
To put things in perspective, the US government has been skeptical of Netanyahu’s plan of carrying out an operation in the southern city of Rafah, where more than 1 million displaced Palestinians have taken refuge Israel looks to eliminate Hamas following Hamas’ deadly Oct. 7 attack.
Biden administration officials have warned that they would not support such an operation without the Israelis presenting a credible plan to ensure the safety of innocent Palestinian civilians as White House officials say that Israel has yet to present such a plan.
The Biden-Netanyahu call also comes as the United Nations food agency on Monday issued more dire warnings about the humanitarian catastrophe in Gaza.
The World Food Program warned that “famine is imminent” in northern Gaza, where 70% of the remaining population is experiencing catastrophic hunger, and that a further escalation of the war could push around half of Gaza’s population to the brink of starvation.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu rebuked American criticism on Sunday, describing calls for a new election as “wholly inappropriate” as he told Fox News Channel that Israel never would have called for a new US election after the September 11, 2001, attacks, and he denounced Schumer’s comments as inappropriate.
“We’re not a banana republic,” he said. “The people of Israel will choose when they will have elections, and who they’ll elect, and it’s not something that will be foisted on us.”
Biden after his State of the Union address earlier this month was caught on a hot mic telling a Democratic ally that he told Netanyahu they would have a “come to Jesus” meeting over the growing humanitarian crisis in Gaza. His frustration with Netanyahu’s prosecution of the war was also on display in a recent MSNBC interview, in which he asserted Netanyahu was “hurting Israel.”
“He has a right to defend Israel, a right to continue to pursue Hamas,” Biden said of Netanyahu in the MSNBC interview. “But he must, he must, he must pay more attention to the innocent lives being lost as a consequence of the actions taken. He’s hurting, in my view, he’s hurting Israel more than helping Israel.”
(With AP inputs)