To this point, President Joe Biden has mostly stood behind Israel amid its military campaign in Gaza, limiting his public criticism of Benjamin Netanyahu and continuing to provide his forces with weapons, without condition. But as the civilian toll in a war-ravaged Gaza continues to grow— and as Biden faces mounting pressure at home to change course—the uneasy alliance between the two leaders is fraying.
Speaking to MSNBC’s Jonathan Capehart Saturday, Biden affirmed Netanyahu’s “right to defend Israel” and pursue Hamas following its brutal October 7 attack, but warned that his counterpart’s siege is “hurting Israel more than helping Israel” and called for a humanitarian ceasefire. “It’s contrary to what Israel stands for,” Biden said of Netanyahu’s devastating onslaught, “and I think it’s a big mistake.”
Biden specifically cautioned Netanyahu against expanding his ground operation into Rafah, saying such an action would cross a “red line.” “You can’t have another 30,000 Palestinians dead as a consequence,” Biden said. “There are other ways to deal with Hamas.” But the Israeli prime minister responded with defiance: “We’ll go there,” Netanyahu told Politico, claiming that the “majority of Israelis” support him. (While there appears to be significant support for the war among the Israeli public, there seems to be broad dissatisfaction with Netanyahu; the prime minister has faced large-scale protests and calls for a new election to be held.)
“You know, I have a red line,” the Israeli leader added. “You know what the red line is? That October 7 doesn’t happen again.”
The tension between the two leaders has been simmering for months. Shortly after October 7, Biden urged his counterpart not to repeat America’s “mistakes” in the wake of 9/11. Behind the scenes, the president has likewise sought to steer Israel away from a military response that he’s described as “over the top.”
“I think he has to change,” Biden said of Netanyahu in December.
But Netanyahu has seemingly disregarded the president’s measured public warnings and private influence campaign: He’s brushed aside Biden’s call for a two-state solution and continued his bombardment of Gaza—enabled by U.S. artillery the Biden administration has continued to quietly provide, much to the frustration of Biden allies at home. “You can’t beg Netanyahu,” Senator Bernie Sanders said over the weekend, calling for conditions to be put on Israel aid. “No more money to Netanyahu’s war machine to kill Palestinian children.”
Biden has so far resisted such calls, but the pressure in the U.S. is mounting. Critics within his coalition have demonstrated their political power in recent primaries, and, with the humanitarian crisis in Gaza growing more dire by the day, the Biden administration has been more forceful in its disapproval of Netanyahu’s war effort. “What we are seeing every day in Gaza is devastating,” Vice President Kamala Harris said in Selma this month, calling for an immediate, temporary ceasefire. Israel has a “fundamental responsibility to protect innocent lives in Gaza,” Biden echoed during his State of the Union address last week, decrying the conflict’s “greater toll on innocent civilians than all the previous wars in Gaza combined” and announcing the construction of a “temporary pier” to boost humanitarian aid. After that speech, Biden was captured on a hot-mic responding to Democratic Senator Michael Bennett’s concerns about Gaza, saying that he told Netanyahu the two would have to have a “‘come to Jesus’ meeting.” (By contrast, Biden’s 2024 rival, Donald Trump, seems to have no qualms about Netanyahu’s approach, saying in a Fox News interview earlier this month that Israel must “finish the problem” in Gaza.)
The question for Biden now is whether to back up his assertive rhetoric with more substantial changes in his administration’s policy, which has so far focused on providing aid to Gaza while contributing to the harsh military campaign that has made that aid necessary in the first place. “It’s time we stop asking Israel to do the right thing,” Sanders said last week, “and start telling Israel what must happen if they want the support of the United States.”