Fresh reporting by Barak Ravid of Axios has revealed that President Biden held a “tough” phone call with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu Thursdsay wherein the Israeli leader was urged to stop stoking tensions in the region which puts any potential hostage deal in extreme jeopardy.
Israel’s Wednesday assassination of Hamas political leader Ismail Haniyeh has put the whole region on a war footing. But Netanyahu and his government without doubt sees this as justified and necessary revenge for the Oct.7 terror attacks on southern Israel. Biden officials are said to be deeply frustrated at the ripple effects from both the Haniyeh killing and the assassination of Hezbollah’s top military commander in Beirut this week.
The White House, through Secretary Antony Blinken, has insisted that it was kept in the dark concerning the Israeli Mossad operation to kill Haniyeh. This after Iran issued a formal condemnation alleging Washington’s involvement in the plot.
The whole Axios report paints a picture of Biden being played by America’s closest Mideast ally, even after Washington has injected billions into Israel’s defense.
Biden and his officials “feel that Netanyahu kept Biden in the dark over his plans to carry out the assassinations, after leaving the impression last week that he was attentive to the president’s request to focus on getting a Gaza deal.”
Or to translate: the White House is belatedly catching up to what most of the world including the Israeli domestic opposition already understood very well – that Netanyahu has prioritized the military fight to eradicate Hamas over the return of the hostages.
According to Ravid’s reporting, “One U.S. official said Biden complained to Netanyahu that the two had just spoken last week in the Oval Office about securing the hostage deal, but instead Netanyahu went ahead with the assassination in Tehran.”
And apparently Biden got angry: “At the end of the meeting with Netanyahu in the Oval office last Thursday, Biden became emotional, raised his voice and told Netanyahu he needs to reach a Gaza deal as soon as possible, three Israeli officials with knowledge of the meeting told Axios,” per the report.
Yet once again this is a US administration pursuing two contradictory polices at once, allowing the US to get bogged down in escalation messes of Israel’s own making. On the one hand Biden is angrily demanding that Tel Aviv get serious about a ceasefire and hostage exchange, but on the other is vowing to defend Israel if it gets attacked by Iran.
Biden “raised his voice”! Really means business this time. https://t.co/npejpcHjgY
— Glenn Greenwald (@ggreenwald) August 2, 2024
In addition to a potential Iran conflict, it remains to be seen if and when PM Netanyahu orders an attack on Hezbollah in Lebanon amid the ratcheting daily tit-for-tat:
Israeli ministers authorized Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his defense chief Sunday to decide on the “manner and timing” of a response to a rocket strike in the Golan Heights that killed 12 children and teens, and which Israel and the United States blamed on Lebanese terror group Hezbollah.
According to The Washington Post the US has already assembled 12 warships in Middle East regional waters prepared to respond to any attack on Israel. Currently the USS Theodore Roosevelt and six US Navy destroyers are in the Persian Gulf. An additional five Navy ships are currently patrolling the Eastern Mediterranean, including two destroyers.
“shouldn’t count on the US to bail him out…”
“@POTUS told @IsraeliPM the US will help defeat an Iranian attack, but that he expects no more escalation from Israel & immed movement toward a hostage deal…and that if Netanyahu escalates again, he shouldn’t count on the US to bail him out.” @BarakRavid https://t.co/Luf2xbXDOu
— Shalom Lipner (@ShalomLipner) August 2, 2024
The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) have said the military is on “high alert”, also as it monitors threats from Iranian-linked group Hezbollah in Lebanon. The US ships are on standby also in case there needs to be an emergency evacuation of US nationals from Lebanon, which has yet to be initiated at this point.
Tyler Durden
Fri, 08/02/2024 – 18:40
