U.S. President Joe Biden exposed a fresh schism in relations with Benjamin Netanyahu on Tuesday by saying that Israel is losing support due to its indiscriminate bombing of Gaza and that Netanyahu should undergo a shift in leadership.
“Israel’s security can rest on the United States, but right now it has more than the United States. It has the European Union; it has Europe; it has most of the world… But they’re starting to lose that support with the indiscriminate bombing that takes place,” Biden stated.
Biden has had bitter differences with Netanyahu for decades, and his comments provided a fresh glimpse into their candid private conversations.
Biden referenced a private conversation in which the Israeli leader stated, “You carpet bombed Germany, you dropped the atom bomb, a lot of civilians died.”
Biden stated his response as follows: “Yeah, that’s why all these institutions were set up after World War Two to see to it that it didn’t happen again… Don’t make the same mistakes we made in 9/11. There’s no reason why we had to be in a war in Afghanistan.”
Netanyahu stated on Tuesday in a statement that the United States had provided Israel with unwavering support for its ground incursion into Gaza and that it had obstructed international pressure to end the conflict.
Additionally, he stated, “There is disagreement about ‘the day after Hamas’ and I hope that we will reach agreement here as well.”
Officials in Gaza claim that Israel’s retaliation against the Hamas attacks has resulted in 18,000 deaths, 50,000 injuries, and a humanitarian crisis.
