U.S. President Joe Biden suggested in an interview published in Time magazine on Tuesday that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is prolonging the war in Gaza for “his own political self-preservation.”
From the interview transcript (original emphasis):
Not at all. Some in Israel have suggested that Netanyahu is prolonging the war for his own political self-preservation. Do you believe that?
Biden: I’m not going to comment on that. There is every reason for people to draw that conclusion. And I would cite tha as—before the war began, the blowback he was getting from the Israeli military for wanting to change the constitu—change the court. And so it’s an internal domestic debate that seems to have no consequence. And whether he would change his position or not, it’s hard to say, but it has not been helpful.
The transcript reveals Biden’s aides — including communications aide Ben LaBolt, and national security communications director John Kirby — hovering around Biden throughout, answering his questions.
The only Israelis suggesting that Netanyahu is deliberately prolonging the war are on the far left of the political spectrum. The Israeli public supports the continuation of the war in Gaza until victory by overwhelming margins.
Biden has been hostile to Netanyahu since the latter won his election in November 2022, refusing to meet with the Israeli leader for nearly a year. He traveled to Israel after the October 7 attacks, but has since backed efforts to oust Netanyahu.
Biden resents Netanyahu because the Israeli leader is resisting American pressure to accept a Palestinian state as an outcome of the war. The Israeli public overwhelmingly backs Netanyahu’s position on the issue after decades of Hamas terror.
Netanyahu is set to travel to Washington, DC, to address a special joint session of Congress — the first world leader to do so four times.
Joel B. Pollak is Senior Editor-at-Large at Breitbart News and the host of Breitbart News Sunday on Sirius XM Patriot on Sunday evenings from 7 p.m. to 10 p.m. ET (4 p.m. to 7 p.m. PT). He is the author of the recent e-book, “The Zionist Conspiracy (and how to join it),” now available on Audible. He is also the author of the e-book, Neither Free nor Fair: The 2020 U.S. Presidential Election. He is a winner of the 2018 Robert Novak Journalism Alumni Fellowship. Follow him on Twitter at @joelpollak.
