- cross-posted to:
- news@beehaw.org
- cross-posted to:
- news@beehaw.org
President Biden and other senior U.S. officials are becoming increasingly frustrated with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his rejection of most of the administration’s recent requests related to the war in Gaza, four U.S. officials with direct knowledge of the issue told Axios.
Why it matters: Since the Oct. 7 Hamas attack 100 days ago, Biden has given Israel his full backing, with unprecedented military and diplomatic support, even while taking a political hit from part of his base in an election year. That support has largely continued publicly, but behind the scenes, there are growing signs that Biden is losing his patience, the U.S. officials said.
- “The situation sucks and we are stuck. The president’s patience is running out,” one U.S. official told Axios.
- “At every juncture, Netanyahu has given Biden the finger,” Sen. Chris Van Hollen (D-Md.), who has been in close contact with U.S. officials about the war, told Axios. “They are pleading with the Netanyahu coalition, but getting slapped in the face over and over again.”
Behind the scenes: Biden hasn’t spoken to Netanyahu in the 20 days since a tense Dec. 23 call, which a frustrated Biden ended with the words: “This conversation is over.” They had spoken almost every other day in the first two months of the war.
- Before Biden hung up, Netanyahu had rejected his request that Israel release the Palestinian tax revenues it’s withholding.
- National Security Council spokesperson John Kirby tried to downplay the decrease in communication, telling reporters on Wednesday that “it doesn’t say anything” about the state of the relationship.
- But more and more signs of irritation are emerging. “There is immense frustration,” a U.S. official said.
You must log in or # to comment.
It has long been time to abandon the 🥕 and start using the stick.
Maybe old Joe will finally get the picture that you cannot work with a hostile authoritarian who is trying to preserve their political ambitions through warmongering. Better late than never I guess, but holy fuck how much more obvious can it get.
TBH Joe is one of those ancient democrats that was around since segregation and was on the wrong side of the issue. I really truly wanted to believe that he had changed, that him serving as VP under Barack Obama had meant something, but clearly he’s still the same son of a bitch he was in his youth. I hope we get some real options in 2028 or I might be learning German and moving out of the US Shithole Country.
deleted by creator
I might be learning German and moving out of the US Shithole Country.
Already way ahead of you on that one chief 👍 I reached B2 this year and I’ve set my move date to July! You’re welcome to join!
This election is a ticking time bomb imo. Both outcomes will probably end in chaos. I’ll be glad to watch it and to cast my vote. Just from way over there, where I’m hopefully outside of the blast radius
Okay well America doesn’t elect Israel’s leadership, so we don’t get to choose who we work with. Bibi is a real piece of shit but our military alliance with Israel, not Bibi, and Bibi is less of a hostile authoritarian than all of the Islamic fundamentalist leaders in charge of all the surrounding countries; those countries have zero chance of establishing lasting human rights. As a democracy, Israel just might.
Guess they got pissed though on October 7 when Hamas used Gaza City to launch 3,000 rockets at Israel and then launch an invasion that killed 1,200 people in mass shootings.
Its fully within his power to pull 100% of the money Israel receives from the US and cut off all access to weapons. He has chosen not to.
It sure it. But then, the most powerful kingmaker in the US is AIPAC, if they withdraw their support of Biden, he will struggle in the presidential race.
Then the risk of a xenophobic wannabe dictator getting elected is put on the otherside of the scale.
So if you look at this from a purely US point of view. The tradeoff is brown people half a world away die, vs the US becoming trumplandia with all the vengeance he has promised to bestow on his political rivals.
So if it was your choice, what would you chose?
Edit to clarify: yes it’s bizarre US allows PACs, corporations should not be treated as people, the situation is FUBAR.
Almost like money needs to get taken out of politics but not like those who use it to keep their people in power will let that happen
Our views align on the solution and the hurdles.
It saddens me that there is no young version of Senator Sanders, he would be good for the US.
Money will never be taken out of politics. It’s the fundamental motivation for politics. No one is out there arguing for anything other than money. If you ask anyone if they want to be ecological and ethical they will say they are being so.
Now ask if the consequences is their livelihood and changing what they know. They will fight tooth and nail.
We have a fight based on two sides. But don’t think it’s only morally based. Both sides have financial consequences they are considering while fighting.
I vote for no one needlessly dying anywhere.
If Trump wins a lot of people will die, just like last time.
More people have died, lost their homes, lost their cars, lost wages, a lot more loss in general under Biden. If you dont want trump then you better start pushing for party to primary Biden
I’d ask you for a source on this nonsense but then who are we kidding right?
Not that it matters, liberals will deny facts in the face of evidence when the blue fascists do it
Elderly are becoming the fastest growing segment of the unhoused
Food bank usage at record highs
Biden’s approach to dealing with COVID (mirrored after DeSantis’ version) has led to more needless death. And this isnt even counting the 10s of thousands of Palestinian deaths he’s allowing to happen.
deleted by creator
Sure, I would too if it where in the table as an option. But alas, it seems it is not. I would venture a guess to say that the Biden administration would also take that option if it where available… But it seems to be a quagmire of unreasonable actors.
Biden’s approval rating is 33%. AIPAC is of no consequence here - no incumbent in the history of US Federal elections has ever won with such abysmal polls in an election year. Not once, ever. Biden isn’t going to magically make history here, and his ego telling him he has to do 2 terms instead of allowing for a primary election so democracy can play out is the reason why.
Then he has the audacity to claim democracy is on the line this year. It’s already gone, America is just in denial about it.
deleted by creator
The only saving grace is that Trump is also a uniquely unpopular political figure.
Yeah me too
deleted by creator
But his opponent is also unprecedentedly unpopular, so we’re basically in uncharted electoral territory such that the past isn’t necessarily a good guide to the future.
Anyone who says they know how this all plays out is either a liar or in denial.
deleted by creator
Can’t expect them to fight their esteemed colleagues on the other side of the aisle in Washington for things like the basic human decency of healthcare for our people, or to win an election. But if there’s one thing everyone in DC can agree on, it’s that everything wrong is the fault of the leftists! (This is of course despite leftists having virtually 0 power in this regressive, conservative capitalist dystopia in which we live).
People are going to look back in AIPAC and wonder… how AI got a political action committee before chatgtp 6.0 passed the Turning test.
deleted by creator
Israel wasn’t popular with the other countries in the region before October, most of it’s neighbors have called for it’s destruction, US support is basically what keeps them in check.
Israel is not popular in the region BECAUSE of the US.
False. Israel isn’t popular in the region because of israel.
Israel is not popular in the region because the others are extremely antisemitic. Let’s stop pretending like the others are saints, please?
Im no historian but i figured Israel wasn’t popular in the region because the country of irael used to be the country of Palestine until another country decided to put israel there. I bet Egypt hated having a lot of its territory held for a long time as well after that one war but like i said I’m no history doctor
There’s never been a country of Palestine, but you’re right about not being a historian…
There’s never been a country of Palestine
damn, really? Why did something like a million people get displaced when israels borders for drawn in 1950 or whatever? I can’t remember the details. Why did all those people get forced from their homes?
Because they chose war rather than the deal the ruling power offered is the short answer.
Many of those people also left willingly at the direction of the Arab Nations surrounding Israel with the understanding they’d get to return after Israel lost the war. That obviously didn’t happen because Israel won the wars.
Many were also just kicked out because this new nation had just been attacked and they wanted control over the disputed lands that they had won. It’s not a clean situation but nation building rarely is.
Nearly one million Jews were also kicked out of their homes in the surrounding Arab Nations.
More like the US is not popular in the region because of Israel.
Israel isn’t popular because the region wants a Pan Arabian state and having a Jewish one right in the middle doesn’t allow them the caliphate they’re going for.
Good. Maybe this can be the turning point away from the US’s bootlicking support of Israel. Fuck Bibi and his genocidal goons.
Biden is going to lose an election over it. Let’s try sanctions against Israel instead of, maybe, you know, giving them billions in military aid that’s being used to kill toddlers.
They liked hummus though so it was justified
I want to say you’re wrong, but the left is dumb enough to pull off getting Trump elected.
Trump didn’t win an election. Hillary lost one. It’s astounding how good they are at throwing.
It’s fucking terrifying seeing this play out again right in front of our faces. Honestly, if we elect Trump again, our Republic doesn’t deserve to survive.
I agree with you, but God damn, I hate that I thought that the last time.
We have to fight tooth and nail against Trump. We have to fight tooth and nail and the Israeli genocide, but also against Trump.
Democrats really are their own worst enemy. At every opportunity, they do everything in their power to alienate their voting base.
Given, republicans hurt their voters all the time, and even more egregiously. But they lie about it and spin it as a win to their voters, who eat it up. Democrats are hilariously bad at championing their wins, and seem to put their failures on display instead.
Democrats do not have the equivalent of Fox News on their side. A lot of people think they do, but they are ignorant. It’s an objective fact that there is no Democratic equivalent to Fox News, OANN, NewsMax, Sinclair or right wing talk radio. There just isn’t. Nor do I think there ever could be given that the Democratic party is really a collection of very disparate political views whose only real common cause is opposition to what the insane GOP has turned into.
The left didn’t want Biden in the first place, they wanted Sanders, but the democrats pulled all the stops in 2020 to get Biden as the nominee and they insisted that this was for everyone’s good.
deleted by creator
They want trump to win almost as much as they want biden to win. If trump wins, that’s another 4+ years that they can run on their “at least we’re not literal nazis” platform. Same reason they continually fuck over Bernie and buy ads for trump and his ilk
If they’re not careful, there’s a risk he might furrow his brow while handing over the next billion dollars worth of cluster bombs
Maybe he’ll threaten to rein him in after the election
It’s crickets when politicians propose giving billions of American taxpayer money and weapons to Israel, year after year. It has never been a better time to stop fucking doing that for good.
More finger wagging, no action.
I didn’t know Israel was even handling Palestinian tax revenues. Gives a clear picture of just how much of a stranglehold that Israel has on Palestine, but I suppose it should’ve been obvious since I already knew they controlled food, water, and pretty much everything going in and out of Palestine.
Patience is not something he should have ever had with Netanyahu. An enemy to mankind should be our enemy, full stop. If Israel cannot stop and contain itself then the rest of the world needs to step in and handle it for them.
Our alliance is with Israel, not Netanyahu, and our policy in the region is one based on centuries, not months. Based on tens of millions of lives, not tens of thousands.
Thats a real concavebrain response right there.
No.
Oil.
They can keep it, we should have shifted away from nonrenewable a lot sooner.
At every juncture, Netanyahu has given Biden the finger
*Surprised Pikachu face
Racist people never care about anyone, once he is done with Palestinians, you can be sure he will go after someone else
“Biden realizes his polling numbers are falling and decides to do damage control”.
Israel is not going to be a winning issue in terms of poll numbers.
Every issue is a winning (or losing) issue in presidential elections. There’s far too many factors to assume any one thing can’t sway the tide.
Hillary made that mistake in 2016.
No, my point is that Biden will lose more voters than he gains on Israel if he changes course. Most of the US is still overwhelmingly pro-Israel despite the genocide on display.
I absolutely think he should drop Israel like a hot potato, but not for domestic strategic reasons. It’ll damage his poll numbers, not help them.
I don’t think so? Republicans won’t vote for him either way, and among Democrats support for Palestine has already overtaken support for Israel AFAIK. Biden’s current stance is losing him young voters like crazy.
and among Democrats support for Palestine has already overtaken support for Israel AFAIK.
Compare support for continued Israeli aid, not support for Palestine. Lots of people claim support for Palestine, yet support continued aid to Israel. If you have something to the contrary, unironically, I’d love to see it. It’d be a rare bright light in these dark times.
Biden’s current stance is losing him young voters like crazy.
As a young voter, we generally don’t turn out in the requisite numbers.
Lots of people claim support for Palestine, yet support continued aid to Israel.
Oh I see.
If you have something to the contrary, unironically, I’d love to see it.
It’s not exactly what you’re looking for, but there.
we generally don’t turn out in the requisite numbers.
Yes, which is why Trump won in 2016. And change in that trend is how Biden won in 2020. Which is why if Biden can’t secure those votes he’ll lose in 2024. It could be a lose-lose situation, but from that perspective it seems like Biden is digging his own grave.
A significant minority of Democrats and Democratic-leaning voters (36%) disapprove of his handling of the war.
Like, don’t get me wrong, I would love if public sentiment turns against the war in Israel, but right now, it’s just… not.
Yes, which is why Trump won in 2016. And change in that trend is how Biden won in 2020. Which is why if Biden can’t secure those votes he’ll lose in 2024. It could be a lose-lose situation, but from that perspective it seems like Biden is digging his own grave.
I rather think this issue is a lose-lose situation in terms of losing voters. Which is one of the reasons I think it’s even more important that Biden take steps away from support of Israel - if you’re gonna lose voters either way, might as well make the decision that is both moral and strategically better for America.
As a young voter, we generally don’t turn out in the requisite numbers.
And yet, we’re blamed for HRC losing. So which is it?
I mean, for HRC’s loss the margin was razor-thin, but realistically it was due to her ignoring several states in favor of running up the margins in Cali to make her eventual win look more ‘legitimate’.
Huzzah electoral college. /s
I believe the electoral college is blamed for HRC losing. Sure, it wasn’t the only factor, but it’s a pretty big deal that you can win the popular vote and still lose the election.
And if Trump gets elected because those youngsters don’t vote… I guess they’ll learn the hard way that elections have consequences. How insignificant the Israeli-Palestinian conflict will seem if Trump becomes the first dictator in US history.
Make better choices in the primary Boomer. Stop electing procorporate trash candidates.
It would have been a game-changing political realignment if Bernie had won the primary instead of Hilary. He could have beat Trump in 2016, soaking up a lot of the populist and working class vote in the Rust Belt, and the trajectory of US politics would have been very different.
Alas, that didn’t happen and a lot of left-leaning people stayed home rather than vote for Hilary. This is a longstanding problem in the Democratic party. Right-wingers always go out and vote Republican, no matter the candidate. Whereas, the left is fickle. Hilary may have been a typical corpo politician, but she was still better than Trump. Even if all she did was make some some incremental progress on public health care and appointed some reasonable SC judges, the US would be a better place right now. Instead, the whole world is facing the possibility of a Trump dictatorship.
Centrists are just going to have to accept that they can’t get everything they want at all times, even if it means they don’t get to support genocide anymore.
If they’re mad because Biden stops supporting genocide, it’s because they’re russian troll children astroturfer shill bots who don’t know how anything works and want Trump to win. Pro-genocide centrist Democrats need to stop being such purity ponies. They need to grow up, shut up, and vote blue no matter who. After all, voting is a chess move, not a love letter.
Sauce for the goose.
There may be many factors but to just throw your hands up and say every issue is equally important is just plain foolish.
It’s a matter of what factors get activated enough for it to be a leading one. If Noone was talking about the border and instead the discussion would be about something else… the “something else” would be a major factor, not the border. Maga extremists are pushing the border narrative hard and pivot to it each appearance they have. Hence its an important issue… in what snippets I see flying past… its border security and finances on one side… Trump lawsuits and Ukraine on the other. Israel comes up less frequently.
The media and public debate play a big role in what factors get activated for it to be decisive.
Or he is disgusted with how Netanyahu is waging genocide. The U.S. can’t just say “alright Israel, you’re on your own” because it would possibly lead to a nuclear conflict between Israel and Iran. Shit would get out of hand real fast when the militants try to storm Israel thinking it’s go time. I hate Netanyahu as much as I hate Khamenei and Hamas
It’s never bothered him before.
I’m sure it did. Dude wouldn’t hire a bunch of people sympathetic to the Palestinians if he hated Palestine. It’s a fragile relationship to balance and abandoning Israel outright would have some severe global consequences
So we should just sacrifice millions to the whims of that murderous bastard because he’s politically useful?
It’s politically useful? No the fuck it isn’t politically useful. It’s a major divisive topic in politics today. You can underestimate the threat Iran poses to regional security and international trade all day and night, but you also lose the ability to bitch and moan about the cost of living when their actions directly implicate those things.
Israel also has a chance to overcome the far right shitstain that is Netanyahu and his supporters and elect a leader who would be committed to reforming relations with the PA. Iran is making it nearly impossible to do so (which is their plan) but it is possible. You can blame Israel for this 100% but Iran shares an equal part of the blame for supporting terrorists across the region
The U.S. can’t just say “alright Israel, you’re on your own” because it would possibly lead to a nuclear conflict between Israel and Iran.
As if Iran can’t possibly be responsible for it’s own actions.
If Iran wants to invade that’s a problem with Iran, not the US.
Iran wouldn’t invade. They’d use their proxies abroad to stage an assault, and Israel may escalate without the U.S. holding it back by striking Iran directly
Ive given up on humanity.
I favor nuking everyone.
Oh, no. A politician doing what the people want in order to save his job.
That’s how it’s supposed to work. It’s better than the usual m.o. where the politician does whatever they want and screw the people. Yes, it would be nice if they did what you want from the get-go, but I will vote for the one that changes their stance due to popular pressure over one that “sticks to their guns” no matter who it’s hurting.
(I’m speaking in generalities here. Obviously Biden hasn’t changed his stance yet.)
100 days of genocide. He sleeps.
Bibi is just waiting and hoping for Trump.
It isn’t too late for Biden to turn things around here. Refuse to send more aid unless Netanyahu can ensure it won’t kill innocent people, and make him do a little dance too.
Like always, Bibi is putting politics above all else.
How does Iran factor into your equation?
Right? How is this not common knowledge? Putin is doing the same thing. Do people on Lemmy not follow the news?
Sure sure, running out of patience. How many days since they sent them more missles and weapons? What like, 11 or 12 days now? And before that Biden used an executive order to send even more? That was after we sent them an initial round of tons of weapons? Yeah Ill tell ya they’re bound to get a stern talking to any day now. I bet after they send them another 3 tons of ammunition the headlines will say something about how “the US is slamming Israel on their war in Gaza” Its so exhausting all this theater.
But keep shipping missiles. Ok Biden.
