(Washington) The gap between the American president and the Israeli prime minister is widening every day: Joe Biden praised Friday the “good speech” delivered the day before by the leader of the Democratic senators, and very critical of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
“He gave a good speech and I think he expressed important concerns, which are not only his own but which are shared by many Americans,” the president said of this intervention by Chuck Schumer, personality highest-ranking Jew in the American legislature.
The senator estimated Thursday that “new elections were the only way to allow a healthy decision-making process” on the future of the country, judging that “Prime Minister Netanyahu [s’était] misguided, letting his political survival come before Israel’s best interests.
Does the American president also want elections and the departure of Benyamin Netanyahu, a journalist wanted to know on Friday, during the daily press briefing at the White House? “It will be up to the Israeli people to decide,” said John Kirby, spokesperson for the National Security Council.
Rafah
Joe Biden, who has supported Israel almost unconditionally since the unprecedented Hamas attack on October 7, is increasingly distancing himself from Benjamin Netanyahu.
Tension could rise further in the event of an Israeli offensive in Rafah, in the south of the Gaza Strip, where a million and a half Palestinians have found refuge.
Benjamin Netanyahu announced Friday the army’s “action plans” for an operation in this area, ensuring that the army was ready “for the operational side and for the evacuation of the population.”
The White House “would like to have the opportunity to see” the plans in question, John Kirby said, renewing American warnings on the fate of displaced civilians.
Chuck Schumer’s remarks Thursday in the Senate made all the more noise as the leader of the Democratic senators had, until now, refrained from openly criticizing the way in which Israel has been carrying out its military offensive since the The unprecedented attack by Hamas on October 7.
According to Chuck Schumer, who also called for the resignation of the head of the Palestinian Authority Mahmoud Abbas, in office since 2005, Benjamin Netanyahu is “too willing to tolerate the human toll among civilians in Gaza”.
PHOTO OHAD ZWIGENBERG, ASSOCIATED PRESS ARCHIVES
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu
A few days ago, the American president estimated that the leader was “doing more harm than good to Israel” with his conduct of the war in Gaza, where the catastrophic humanitarian situation continues to worsen.
The recent visit to Washington by Benny Gantz, member of the Israeli war cabinet and great political rival of Benjamin Netanyahu, was also interpreted as an indication of the growing mistrust in the United States towards the Israeli prime minister.
February 15
The centrist had not seen Joe Biden, but he had met Vice-President Kamala Harris and the head of diplomacy Antony Blinken.
Joe Biden and Benjamin Netanyahu last spoke to each other on February 15, and the atmosphere between the two leaders, whose relationship has always been difficult, has continued to become tense since.
Beyond the conflict and the humanitarian crisis, the two men completely differ on the long-term prospects for the region. The Israeli Prime Minister publicly and firmly rejected the prospect of a future Palestinian state, which the White House defends.
“Humanitarian aid cannot be a secondary consideration or a bargaining chip,” the American president said to the Israeli leader on March 8, in a solemn speech at the Capitol.
“I told him, Bibi, you’re going to have to get it into your head,” Joe Biden then said during an aside with a senator and Antony Blinken, using the nickname of the Israeli Prime Minister.
Realizing that a microphone had picked up this informal exchange, the American president, far from appearing upset, said: “That’s good. »