NBC network reported that divisions between President Joe Biden’s administration and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu have become more evident following the recent visit of U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken to Israel.
Blinken returned from Israel after Netanyahu rejected all of Washington’s requests except for one pertaining to not attacking Hezbollah in Lebanon.
Officials told NBC that Blinken informed Netanyahu that there is no military solution regarding the fate of the Islamic Resistance (Hamas), and that Israel must recognize this or “history will repeat itself, and the violence will continue.” However, Netanyahu was not convinced by Blinken’s words, according to the same source.
The network also reported that Biden’s administration “is looking beyond Netanyahu to achieve its goals in the region” and is trying to lay the groundwork with other Israeli leaders in preparation for a post-Netanyahu government.
Many senior American officials have told NBC that Netanyahu “will not be there forever.”
Escalating Disputes
This week, the news website Axios reported that President Joe Biden hung up the phone on Netanyahu during their last call, in a new sign of the growing rift between them due to the ongoing Israeli war on Gaza Strip for 104 days.
The last conversation between Biden and Netanyahu took place on December 23rd, and the aforementioned incident occurred then.
Over the past weeks, public disputes between Biden and Netanyahu have surfaced regarding the management of the war on Gaza and the future of the sector after the cessation of fighting. However, these differences have not reached a point of stopping or changing the nature of the American support for Tel Aviv.
Two weeks ago, Biden said that Israel had begun to lose global support due to what he described as its random bombing of Gaza. Nevertheless, he reiterated that Tel Aviv could rely on American support and emphasized his backing of “its right to self-defense”.
Biden hinted at disagreements in his relationship with Netanyahu, acknowledging that the latter is in a “difficult position”.
