President Joe Biden recently entertained the theory that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is prolonging the current conflict in the Gaza Strip to bolster his personal political fortunes.
President Biden spoke with Time magazine in a May 28 White House interview, which was published on Tuesday. In it, the president discussed a range of foreign policy issues, including the fighting in the Gaza Strip and negotiations for a ceasefire.
Time magazine journalists initially asked the president which parties he believes are to blame for the lack of ceasefire nearly eight months on into the current war. President Biden responded at first that he believed Hamas—a U.S. and Israeli-designated Palestinian terrorist group—is responsible for the ongoing fighting and said the conflict could end “tomorrow” if Hamas would accept the ceasefire terms the Israeli side has offered.
Moments later, the Time magazine interviewers asked President Biden what he thought of the theory that Mr. Netanyahu also sees the ongoing war as an avenue for his political survival and is prolonging the fighting for his own electoral benefit.
“I’m not going to comment on that,” President Biden began before immediately adding, “There’s every reason for people to draw that conclusion.”
President Biden then suggested the political atmosphere in Israel prior to the Oct. 7 Hamas attacks, and the ensuing Gaza conflict bolstered the theory that Mr. Netanyahu benefits from the ongoing war. Thousands of Israeli citizens had taken to the streets in September 2023 in protest of a judicial overhaul sought by the Netanyahu government.
“I would cite the as—before the war began, the blowback he was getting from the Israeli military for wanting to change the constitu—change the court,” President Biden told Time. “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.”
Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer similarly referenced disagreement over the judicial overhaul effort in Israel in a March Senate floor speech in which he referred to Mr. Netanyahu as an “obstacle to peace.” Mr. Schumer used the March floor speech to endorse calls for new elections in Israel, to be held as soon as the current Gaza conflict dies down.
Biden, Netanyahu Offer Differing Ceasefire Rhetoric
State Department spokesman Matthew Miller downplayed President Biden’s Time magazine interview remarks during a Tuesday department press briefing. Mr. Miller insisted President Biden was not necessarily endorsing the theory that Mr. Netanyahu was prolonging the war but merely stated, “some people could conclude that.”
Still, reporters at the department press briefing presented President Biden’s Time magazine comments alongside his efforts in the days since that interview to push along a ceasefire agreement. Members of Netanyahu’s governing coalition have already expressed reservations about the ceasefire terms as President Biden described them.
President Biden announced on Friday, May 31, that the Israeli government had put forward terms for a three-phase ceasefire plan. President Biden said Israeli forces have “devastated Hamas” over the past eight months of fighting and rendered them incapable of carrying out another attack as they did on Oct. 7. But the President did not clearly say on Friday that the peace plan would see Hamas’ total defeat, going only so far as to say the ensuing peace framework would “not allow Hamas to re-arm.”
President Biden’s May 31 remarks about the ceasefire deal appear to fall short of wartime goals articulated by Mr. Netanyahu and his allies to outright eliminate Hamas.
On Monday, Mr. Netanyahu told the Israeli Knesset that any claims he had agreed to any ceasefire deal “without our conditions being met” are incorrect.
Israeli National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir, a member of Mr. Netanyahu’s governing coalition, said Mr. Netanyahu had assured him that President Biden had simply misconstrued the terms of the Israeli proposal. But Mr. Ben-Gvir also said Mr. Netanyahu has yet to provide the actual details of the ceasefire deal. On Monday, Mr. Ben-Gvir threatened to pull his Otzma Yehudit (Jewish Power) party out of Mr. Netanyahu’s governing coalition if he finds that the prime minister agreed to a “promiscuous deal” to end the war without outright eliminating Hamas.
Mr. Miller insisted on Tuesday that the ceasefire proposal Mr. Biden described on May 31 is the same one the Israeli government has put out and that it’s now up to Hamas leaders to accept the terms. Still, reporters questioned whether a sign-off by Hamas was the last step in implementing the deal.
“We are convinced it is the case that Israel is ready to implement this deal. As I said, it’s their proposal, a proposal put forward by the government and they have maintained to us they’re ready to implement it,” Mr. Miller said. “Doesn’t mean there aren’t voices inside Israel, or voices even inside the Israeli government opposed to it. But the government, speaking on behalf of the government, has said they support this proposal and are ready to stand behind that. We take them at their word.”