Biden Is Right. Netanyahu Is Damaging Israel’s Future
Bibi says most Israelis support the war in Gaza, and they do. That doesn’t make it right.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
Photographer: Alexi J. Rosenfeld/Getty Images EuropeTensions between the leaders of Israel and the US have boiled over, with President Joe Biden accusing Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of doing more to harm than help his own country. These are harsh words to hear from your most important ally, and Biden went further still. He described the Israeli government’s plan to attack Rafah — currently home to as many as 1 million refugees from the war — as a “red line” that must not be crossed. Bibi was unimpressed.
After Biden spoke, Israel’s great political survivor doubled down on his pledge to attack Rafah, so as to finish Hamas off once and for all. In an interview with the German media group Axel Springer SE, Netanyahu also said that if Biden meant to say he’d been acting against the wishes of the majority of Israelis, and was damaging the nation’s interests, then the US president was wrong on both counts. The reply was as shrewd as it was misleading.