October 10, 2024 - 7:00am
One year into Israel’s deadliest war since 1973, its relationship with its strongest ally has reached a nadir. US President Joe Biden spoke over the phone with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu yesterday for the first time in almost 50 days. In the time since they last spoke on 21 August, Israel has killed Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah and much of the Lebanese group’s senior leadership before coming under direct attack from Iranian missiles.
On Tuesday it was reported that US National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan demanded “clarity and transparency” from the Israeli Minister for Strategic Affairs, Ron Dermer, over plans to strike Iran. According to Axios, Sullivan implied that if the Israelis did not inform the US of their plans, then American support could not be taken for granted. In reality, this was bluster. Washington officials admitted that even if Israel struck Iran without disclosing its plans to the White House, the US would “very likely” help Israel defend itself.
Over the past year, Netanyahu has played Biden like a prize flute. On many occasions, the US has not been notified in advance of Israeli strikes or only found out immediately beforehand when the planes or missiles were already in the air. This includes some of the most high-profile missions of the past year, such as the assassination of Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh in Tehran, the detonation of the Hezbollah pagers and walkie talkies, and the killing of Nasrallah in Beirut. In the latter case, US Defence Secretary Lloyd Austin was told of the strike by his Israeli counterpart Yoav Gallant only minutes before the bombs landed.
Veteran journalist Bob Woodward’s new book War has revealed the depths to which US-Israeli relations have sunk. According to Woodward, who along with Carl Bernstein revealed the Watergate scandal, Biden has not spoken positively of his Israeli counterpart. In spring this year, Biden apparently called him “that son of a bitch, Bibi Netanyahu”. The President is also alleged to have said of his Israeli counterpart: “He’s a bad guy. He’s a bad fucking guy!”
Biden had earlier complained to Netanyahu personally, telling him he had “no strategy” for defeating Hamas in Gaza. After Netanyahu allegedly assured Biden that the Rafah offensive would only take a few weeks, the US President is said to have called the Israeli Prime Minister “a fucking liar”.
This antipathy for Netanyahu is not limited to Democrats. In an interview with Time magazine in April, Donald Trump gave his harshest public remarks yet about Bibi. The Republican candidate said that criticism of the Israeli leader was “justified”, that the 7 October attacks “happened on his watch”, and pointedly noted that “there are very good people who can replace him.”
This suggests a Trump victory in November would not be the boon for Netanyahu that many assume. Indeed, it might be that Trump — who has no fear of being seen as anti-Israeli or pro-Arab — might be able to pressure Bibi in a way that Biden has been reluctant to.
Although Biden has long been a staunch supporter of the Jewish state, the same cannot be said for Kamala Harris, at least not in terms of her public remarks. In July, just before she became the Democratic nominee, she claimed after meeting privately with Netanyahu that she would “not be silent” about Palestinian suffering. According to Woodward, these remarks were very different from the tone Harris took in private, and that Netanyahu was “taken aback” and “infuriated” by her public comments.
Ironically, it might be that Harris’s substitution for Biden at the top of the Democratic ticket, and the party’s subsequent boost in the polls, has made the White House less likely to take a stern approach with Israel. Back in July, Biden seemed desperate, bleeding young and minority voters, and unable to afford a loss of support among Arab and Muslim Americans. Today, Harris is in a stronger position: earlier this week, the “Uncommitted” pro-Palestinian group made a significant shift towards her, stating: “we have to orient toward who is the better candidate.” Feeling that they can ultimately take most of the pro-Palestine vote for granted, the Democrats’ attention is on middle-class and swing voters who would be more likely to punish any perceived cooling in support of Israel.
It’s a cliché of American politics that foreign policy does not have much impact on domestic elections. With Hurricane Milton about to hit Florida, it is likely that the US leadership, media and public attention will be focused on the storm and its aftermath. Biden has already cancelled a planned trip to Europe and Africa, so this could be an ideal time for Israel to strike. But once the election is over and a new president enters the Oval Office in January, Netanyahu may be faced with a leader unwilling to tolerate the evasions and liberties he has grown used to taking.
David Swift is a historian and author. His next book, Scouse Republic, is available to pre-order now.
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SubscribeOn many occasions, the US has not been notified in advance of Israeli strikes or only found out immediately beforehand when the planes or missiles were already in the air.
Gee, maybe they just don’t trust the US.
Maybe the yanks should stop giving them weapons and aid then?
Possibly, but they don’t won’t.
Giving?
I saw that too.
With all the US’ ISR, the US did not see the Israeli missiles launched or fighter jets take off? Does US ISR only detect attacks on Israel, but not by Israel?
Or is it more accurate to say that the various US fiefdoms – White House, State Department, Pentagon, CIA – do not necessarily keep each other informed and pursue separate and competing if not antagonistic policies?
the various US fiefdoms – White House, State Department, Pentagon, CIA – do not necessarily keep each other informed and pursue separate and competing if not antagonistic policies?
I think that may be very likely and I’ve read enough to not be surprised.
So vote for someone who wants to drain the swamp.
These sort of comments are beginning to get tiresome. What do you know of me to make that comment?
I’ve never been in love with Benjamin Netanyahu, but if I had been, I would have fallen out of love with him too. What Israel suffered on October 7 last year was horrific, but what Israel has done in return has been horrific too. And Israel doesn’t stop.
What kind of country sends fighter jets into Gaza to bomb schools, hospitals, houses and churches? What kind of country turns Gaza into a hellhole where 70 percent of its buildings have been destroyed and it will take a generation to make livable?
What kind of country has snipers kill children? What kind of country turns 2 million civilians out of their homes so they starve, live without water, have in some places 1 toilet for 4,000 people, and can’t get even basic medical care when they get sick from the diseases that plague such a place?
That’s just Gaza. Now Israel is doing the same to Lebanon. Bombing, destroying, booby trapping, assassinating. Using its powerful military against targets that indiscriminately include civilians.
To all this add Israel’s refusal to give the Palestinians their own state. Instead, Israel settles land it took in war, a war crime. It condemns the Palestinians for wanting to claim from the river to the sea, but it wants to do the same, kick the Palestinians out and add Judea and Samaria to make Israel stretch from the sea to the river.
I have long sympathized with Israel but my sympathies have shifted. I still strongly condemn the Palestinians and Hezbollah for their terrorism, but now I must strongly condemn Israel for its terrorism as well.
So you would have hated the US, USSR and Britain in WW2. And to not mention the deliberate tactic, openly touted by Iranian puppet leaders, of using children and hospitals, schools etc as shields is a wee bit telling. BTW, facts show that the PLO was offered something like 90% of their demands for territory for a nation and refused it. Gaza was turned over with no Israeli control some 20 years,ago. Iran had their puppets brainwash the area into a death cult. The head puppets grifted all the money, live lives of rich and famous, and murdered dissenters, gays, and ran off Christians.
Palestinian terrorism is inexcusable no matter what Israel does. And the Palestinians have been the source of most of their own misery, that is true. It’s tragic what the Palestinians have done to themselves, and their leadership continues to be worse than worthless.
Bibi taking some significant risk in weakening trust with US. He’s driven too much by his own political survival which requires this war gets extended. Nonetheless the strategic rationale for US support remains strong. What’s evolving is the US electoral calculus. For decades that has strongly lent towards support for Israel. Demographic change may reduce that instinct and medium term Israel must be mindful where that may lead.
There are almost certainly other Sunni Arab leaders, not unhappy Iranian backed militia and leaders getting a hammering, worried their own populace becomes so furious with what is happening they can’t stay as neutral as they have. They will be leaning on Washington to exert more control because they are worried they too are sitting on a powder-keg.
Hmm – given the facts as stated in this article, why is it indeed that US leaders are falling out of love with Netanyahu.
Obviously, it can’t have anything to do with the carnage Israel is perpetrating in Gaza, and is now visiting on Lebanon. Or on Israel’s flagrant violations of international law, which have seen Israel lose before the ICJ and Netanyahu hauled before the ICC. Or on Israel flouting UN Security Council resolutions, resolutions which are binding in law and could not have been passed against US objections. Or on the murderous transgressions by Israeli “settlers”, aided and abetted by government ministers.
All of which have revealed the US to the world as complete hypocrites, bleating on about a rules-based order while supporting Israel without question in all its actions.
Surely if any of these played any role in US leaders’ very gradual change of heart (which, if true, has not yet manifested in any action), the article would have mentioned them?
Wear your negs like badges of honour, Herr Gassmann.
Still a bunch of fascists with even the slightest scratch in the veneer
Scratch the surface and no surprise….
The job of the Israeli prime minister and government is to defend the State of Israel. The danger of seeking permission from the US about how they’re supposedly going to be allowed to do that is vividly demonstrated in the case of Ukraine. In Israel’s case this is exacerbated by an American administration intent on keeping it’s Muslim vote and pro-Islam/anti-Israel/anti-semite interest groups onside before a presidential election in a few weeks. So no wonder Netanyahu won’t play poodle with Biden.
Netanyahu played Biden like a fiddle because Biden was willing to be played. It doesn’t matter how much he privately criticised or hates the man, he’s still blindly supporting his actions.
No doubt true, but Israel controls the US. That said, Netanyahu wouldn’t play Donald Trump like a prize flute.
That’s a hilarious idea!
but Israel controls the US.
How?
Sure ..Adolf
“… on many occasions Biden has not been notified of Israeli strikes..”
You don’t have to wonder why
The USA’s interests sometimes converge with those of Israel and sometimes diverge, according to the perceptions or misperceptions & calculations of its various administrations
The Democrats (“take the win Bibi”) can no longer be trusted as a reliable ally, preferring a precarious pre-election status quo unbearable to Israel & conversely convenient & palatable to Iran & its proxies: Hamas, Hezbolla & Al-Ansari Houthis
And as Israel edged ever closer to the defining moment of vanquishing Hamas in Rafa, hampered by the UN’s refusal to provide humanitarian corridors at the outset of hostilities as Israel had requested at the beginning, the clamour from the USA increased
Once again, Israel is doing the West’s dirty work while being heaped with opproprium from the same. The hypocrisy is staggering
Israel is fighting a war not on 7 fronts as is commonly reported, but on eight- the eighth being to the West, across the Mediterannean & Atlantic to Britain, Europe America & Canada
The only leaders falling out of love with Israel are those being played, willinglybor not, by Iran. A Trump victory will considerably limit the power of Iranian/anti-semitic influence. As well as increase the chance to bring actual peace.
Governments of appeasers rarely appreciate those who protect democracy and themselves.
These buffoons don’t seem to understand that Israel lost patience with them first. At a time when they are fighting for their safety and in effect for their lives, America is constantly sabotaging their war effort because of vague and misconceived notions of even-handedness and the stupid idea that Hamas and Hezbollah cannot really be uprooted – something that Tsahal is disproving on the ground. Nethanyahu’s war is supported to the hilt by the vast majority of Israelis, including many who detest him personally, and if he goes to the nation after its end on a slogan that says “He has smashed your enemies and avenged your dead, in spite of American hostility and sabotage”, he will win the election, and then America will have to live with the most unfriendly Israeli administration in history. Plus, in destroying the proxies of Iran and of the Muslim Brotherhood in the Levant, Israel is doing the dirty work of Egypt and Saudi Arabia, who have been notably silent for all this year of war, and who will not thank America for having tried to relieve the pressure on their deadly enemies Iran and the MB. American behaviour is stupid, obstinate and self-damaging. Even the vicious rise of the ugly green-red coalition of extreme leftists and jihadis, while bad news for the West at large, is not going to do Israel any harm, since it will encourage the remaining western Jews to think about migrating to the country. There is no upside for the USA in trying to hobble Israel or get rid of Nethanyahu.
US politicians hate Netanyahu because Netanyahu tells them to their face that they do not run US foreign policy. As for Harris, she will support Israel if she becomes President. Her public comments are there to keep the pro-Holocaust vote Democrat.