Biden is growing increasingly frustrated with the Israeli government’s failure to address U.S. concerns regarding a major operation in Rafah. This has become even clearer with his recent threat to stop sending weapons to the Jewish state.
For the first time, Biden said that the United States would not “supply the weapons and artillery shells” if Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu goes ahead with his plan to invade Rafah.
“Civilians have been killed in Gaza as a consequence of those bombs and other ways in which they go after population centers,” Biden told CNN host Erin Burnett in a rare sit-down interview on May 8.
Netanyahu, also known as “Bibi,” retaliated the next day with a video message in which he pledged to fight Hamas alone.
“If we have to stand alone, we will stand alone,” he said.
Both leaders have traded barbs in the past over Israel’s operation in Gaza, but this latest exchange seems to have taken their feud to a whole new level.
“A political signal of frustration and unhappiness” is how Aaron David Miller, a former State Department Middle East analyst, interpreted Biden’s recent ultimatum.
In a post on X, he speculated that the president might be transitioning from his “passive-aggressive” stance on Israel over the past six months to a more aggressive one.
Since Rafah is the last stronghold of Hamas in Gaza, Netanyahu has repeatedly stated that he would launch a military campaign there to destroy the terrorist group.
Biden, on the other hand, has repeatedly expressed concerns that a large-scale military operation in Rafah could risk harming civilians, as over 1 million Palestinians have packed in the city over the past seven months of fighting.
‘Hug Bibi Tight’
Shortly after Hamas’ devastating attack on Israel on Oct. 7, Biden traveled to the Middle East, finding himself in the middle of a war zone.His bear hug for Bibi upon his arrival in Tel Aviv on Oct. 18 became one of the most talked-about moments of the crisis, with some seeing it as a new chapter in the relationship between the two leaders.
Both leaders have known each other for decades.
When they first met, Joe Biden was a junior senator in his early 40s, while Netanyahu was a new diplomat nearly a decade younger.
Their relationship has not always been easy, though.
Atlantic reporter Franklin Foer explains this complex relationship in his book, “The Last Politician,” released in September 2023.
The book details how the president approached Bibi in May of that year, following the outbreak of an 11-day Israeli-Palestinian conflict.
Biden told his advisers that he would wait to build trust with the Israeli leader, knowing from previous experience that “criticism would merely push ‘Bibi’ away.”
The book stated that Biden’s strategy was “to smother Netanyahu with love.”
“Then, at the right moment, Biden said that he would take advantage of the trust he had deposited in the bank. Only then would he tell Bibi to wind the war down. But in the meantime, he was going to hug Bibi tight.”
It appears that Biden’s strategy of exercising patience with Bibi has reached its breaking point, as evidenced by his CNN interview.
What’s Next?
White House spokesman John Kirby tried to clarify the president’s comments during a call with reporters, implying that the public has learned what he has been telling Netanyahu privately for weeks.“The president and his team have been clear for several weeks that we do not support a major ground operation in Rafah,” Kirby said on May 9, adding that the president “has communicated that repeatedly and straightforwardly” to Netanyahu.
It’s still unclear how the U.S. decision will impact Israel’s operation in Rafah and the sentiment of the Jewish community in the United States.
Avi Melamed, a former Israeli intelligence official, believes that Biden’s recent statement emboldens Hamas and Iran and puts U.S. allies in the Middle East at risk.
“There are conflicting messages and objectives in U.S. policy. Many Israelis see it this way,” he said.
Melamed, however, believes that there remains tactical maneuvering space for Israel when it comes to its operations in Rafah.
“I don’t know if it’s going to impact Israel’s determination to operate in Rafah. In fact, in the last couple of hours, Israel reportedly expanded its operation,” he said.
He did, however, note that Israel’s operations plan will be slower and more deliberate going forward, as opposed to the ‘shock and awe’ approach used earlier in the war.
Melamed noted that Israel will likely avoid further conflict with the Biden administration by adopting this new approach.
While Biden’s decision was welcomed by progressives, some Jewish groups in the United States expressed disappointment.
Daniel Rosen, president of the American Jewish Congress, issued a statement, calling the decision “deeply concerning.”
“It risks generating a narrative that could exacerbate the rise of anti-Semitism in the United States, providing a source of validation to those who harbor hatred towards Jews and Israel, and empowering Israel’s enemies,” he said.
