President Joe Biden (L) meets with Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Oct. 18, 2023. Photo by BRENDAN SMIALOWSKI/AFP via Getty Images

By Jacob Kornbluh March 10, 2024

President Joe Biden and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu openly exchanged their harshest criticisms of each other since Oct. 7 over the weekend, a dispute both leaders relish because it could boost their prospects for political survival. 

In an interview with MSNBC on Saturday, Biden said that Netanyahu is “hurting Israel more than helping Israel” with his prosecution of the war in Gaza, where Palestinian health officials put the death toll above 30,000. Biden warned that a promised Israeli military operation in the Egyptian border city of Rafah, without plans for evacuating more than a million displaced residents of Gaza who are sheltering there, would cross a “red line” for his administration.

But Netanyahu fired back, saying in an interview with Politico published on Sunday that he has his own red line — ”that October 7 never happen again” — and that Biden is “wrong on both counts,” regarding Israelis’ support of the war in Gaza and opposition to a Palestinian state. 

“The attempt to say that my policies are my private policies that are not supported by most Israelis, is false,” Netanyahu said in a clip he shared on social media. Israelis “also support my position that says that we should resoundingly reject the attempt to ram down our throats a Palestinian state. That is something that they agree on.”

Biden’s statements came two days after he was recorded telling a member of Congress after the State of the Union address on Thursday that it was time for him to have a “come-to-Jesus meeting” with Netanyahu. Vice President Kamala Harris, who last week intensified the pressure on Israel to quickly reach a ceasefire agreement with Hamas, echoed Biden’s frustration with Netanyahu, saying on CBS News Friday: “I think it’s important for us to distinguish, or at least to not conflate, the Israeli government with the Israeli people.”

For his part, Netanyahu demurred in the Politico interview when asked whether he preferred Biden or Trump win their fall rematch.  “The last thing I want to do is enter the American political arena,” he said.  

Biden and Netanyahu benefit from this crisis 

The bitter exchange comes at a pivotal moment for both leaders. 

In recent weeks, more than 200,000 Democratic voters marked “uncommitted” or “no preference” on their ballots in a protest vote over Biden’s stance on the Israel-Hamas war. That means there will be delegates at this summer’s Democratic National Convention held in Chicago bringing the same message, and a threat that critics of Israel’s war would sit out the general election in the key swing states of Michigan and Minnesota.

Biden, who has frequently referred to himself as a Zionist and offered full-throated support for Israel following the Oct. 7 attack, seems to have concluded that picking a fight with Netanyahu can benefit him politically. Netanyahu has been very unpopular in the Democratic Party since he defied President Barack Obama by speaking directly to Congress about the Iran nuclear deal in 2015; his extreme right-wing government’s push to overhaul’s judicial system last year only weakened Netanyahu’s standing, including among liberal American Jews.

Several high-profile Democrats, including Sen. Bernie Sanders of Vermont, have focused their attention on Netanyahu in criticizing the war.

Ehud Olmert, a former Israeli prime minister, said last week that Biden could even gain support from Jewish voters if he targets Netanyahu and appeals directly to the Israeli public about his post-war vision. Biden, who touted his status as “the only American president to visit Israel during wartime” in last week’s State of the Union address,  indicated on Saturday he may soon travel to Jerusalem again, to address the Knesset. 

Netanyahu, too, could be buoyed by a contretemps with the U.S. administration over policy. Standing up to Biden strengthens his image among his traditional base of supporters as someone who is safeguarding Israel’s interests regardless of diplomatic pressure. He is being careful to define those policy differences around issues of broad consensus across Israel’s political spectrum –  opposition to the establishment of a Palestinian state and a military operation in Rafah – to suggest that it is Biden, not him, who is out of step with Israeli public opinion.

Abe Foxman, the former longtime head of the Anti-Defamation League and a Biden supporter, said the president’s approach is misguided as it “sends the wrong message” to Israel’s enemies. “It looks like the U.S. being a fickle, unreliable ally in time of need.” 

Anti-government protests returning 

Netanyahu’s standing in Israeli public opinion has fallen significantly since Oct. 7, especially as weeks pass with no movement on negotiations for the release of the more than 100 hostages still held by Hamas in Gaza. A recent poll showed that 60% of Israelis anticipate a wave of public protests breaking out in the foreseeable future. 

In recent weeks, thousands have returned to the streets of Tel Aviv every Saturday night, calling for Netanyahu’s ouster and new elections. These protests are not as widespread as the nationwide demonstrations against the judicial overhaul last year, but represent a shift from the broad unity and focus on the hostages rather than domestic politics last fall.

In New York, a small group of Israeli activists opposed to the Netanyahu government gathered on a triangle on the Upper West Side on Sunday, calling for immediate elections. “In Biden we trust,” the 20 demonstrators chanted. One woman held up a sign, referencing Biden’s hot-mic remarks and saying the pressure on Netanyahu “is way overdue.”

Netanyahu’s response to Biden could also be seen as a distraction from the real threat to the most right-wing government in the nation’s history. A survey published Sunday showed that 70% of Israeli Jews want to end the longstanding blanket exemptions from military service for Haredim, an issue that has caused growing fissures across society. 

The government faces a deadline to pass a new law excusing Haredi men from military draft. If Netanyahu’s coalition partners — which include Haredi leaders and those who virulently oppose the exemption — fail to come to an agreement on a new proposal, Haredi yeshivas could face economic sanctions, and the parties representing them could leave the government.

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