President Joe Biden sensationally called Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu the ‘primary obstacle’ to peace in the Middle East, according to a shocking new report.
The remarks come as Israeli airstrikes killed 67 Palestinians and wounded dozens more in Rafah, the southern Gaza city that is the last refuge of about a million displaced civilians.
A source close to the president told NBC News that Biden feels as though Netanyahu is ‘giving him hell’ over ceasefire negotiations.
‘He just feels like this is enough. It has to stop,’ another source told the network.
On Friday, the White House sought to downplay sharp criticism levied against Israel by President Joe Biden and a senior national security official over how Netanyahu has negotiated his nation’s response to Hamas’ brutal October 7 assault.
Biden, speaking to reporters Thursday evening, called Israel’s military operations in Gaza ‘over the top’ and said the suffering of innocent people has ‘got to stop.’
A source close to the president told NBC News that Biden feels as though Netanyahu is ‘giving him hell’ over ceasefire negotiations
The remarks come as Israeli airstrikes killed 67 Palestinians and wounded dozens more in Rafah, the southern Gaza city that is the last refuge of about a million displaced civilians
While Biden has previously expressed concern about the mounting Palestinian civilian toll — more than 27,000 have been killed in Gaza since the conflict erupted — his direct criticism of the Israelis has been muted.
Then on Friday, the New York Times reported it had obtained a recording in which the president’s deputy principal national security adviser, Jon Finer, expressed a ‘lack of confidence’ in Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s right-wing government.
Those comments were taken from a meeting with Arab American and Muslim community leaders this week. The White House National Security Council confirmed that Finer’s comments, as reported by the Times, were accurate.
An administration official told The Associated Press that Finer was speaking specifically about the Netanyahu government’s commitment to pursuing a two-state solution — one in which Israel would co-exist with an independent Palestinian state — once the war ends.
Netanyahu throughout his political career has consistently opposed the creation of a Palestinian state.
More than four months on from October 7, much of the densely-populated strip of land on the Mediterranean is in ruins, with 28,340 Palestinians dead and 67,984 wounded, according to Gaza health officials, who say many others are buried under rubble.
The Israeli military says 31 hostages have since died, but Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Monday’s rescue showed that military pressure should continue, brushing aside international alarm at its plans for a ground assault on Rafah.