US president’s remarks to Time magazine about PM’s role in conflict draw heavily critical response from Israeli government

Joe Biden has said that there is “every reason” to draw the conclusion that Benjamin Netanyahu is prolonging the war in Gaza for his own political self-preservation.

Biden made the remarks about the Israeli prime minister in an interview with Time magazine published on Tuesday morning, drawing a sharp response from the Israeli government, which accused the US president of straying from diplomatic norms.

Netanyahu’s popularity plummeted after the 7 October attack by Hamas, which exposed serious flaws in Israeli security. Most political observers say Netanyahu would lose elections if they were held now, and would be forced into opposition, facing court hearings on corruption charges. But elections have been put off until the war is over, or at least until major military operations are deemed to have been completed.

Time asked Biden whether he believed Netanyahu was “prolonging the war for his own political self-preservation”.

“I’m not going to comment on that,” the president said in response, but added: “There is every reason for people to draw that conclusion.”

  • CanadaPlus@lemmy.sdf.org
    link
    fedilink
    English
    arrow-up
    11
    ·
    5 months ago

    It’s mostly them, though, with a bit of contribution from Germany.

    I’m not actually sure if being cut off hard would stop them, what with Netanyahu’s personal freedom in the mix, but it would hurt a lot.

    • barsoap@lemm.ee
      link
      fedilink
      English
      arrow-up
      5
      ·
      edit-2
      5 months ago

      Nope. The German government stopped issuing weapon export licenses within days. Some stuff arrived that needed licenses but is completely useless in a genocide (training ammunition, artillery charges (not rounds but the propellant part) going to industry for testing), the rest is almost certainly useless in a genocide: 5000 Panzerfaust 2. Kind of hard to deny them that export as they happen to own the producer and Hamas, last I checked, doesn’t even have tanks and as they’re shaped charges they really only are sensible to use against hard targets.

      We still do export plenty of dual-use and non-weapon military equipment, though, those have lower export requirements. Helmets, replacement parts for radars, suchlike.

      • CanadaPlus@lemmy.sdf.org
        link
        fedilink
        English
        arrow-up
        1
        ·
        edit-2
        5 months ago

        So just the US then, haha.

        Italy also gave them a few helicopters, which amounted to a percent of the total value or so, but everyone else gave pretty much purely symbolic aid before this kicked off. Germany and the US were the whole pie chart.

        • tsonfeir@lemmy.world
          link
          fedilink
          English
          arrow-up
          1
          arrow-down
          3
          ·
          5 months ago

          I don’t know what you know. But since you lead with “bold take,” I’m going to pass. You’re not interested. You just want a fight.

          • CanadaPlus@lemmy.sdf.org
            link
            fedilink
            English
            arrow-up
            1
            ·
            edit-2
            5 months ago

            I didn’t mean it in a taunting way, it legitimately is just a strong and unexpected statement, from where I sit.

            Allow me to rephrase. The story I’ve heard from pretty much everyone, pro, anti and neutral, is that Israel is a small, vulnerable nation that has been propped up by the US. Do you have hard facts that contradict that?

            If so, I want to know, because I don’t enjoy being wrong.