Biden’s Bibi problem is growing Wladimir Klitschko: ‘We don’t need NATO soldiers, we need weapons’

Anecdotes are often told about politicians who have known each other for a long time. US President Joe Biden and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu have known each other for more than forty years. Lots of material for anecdotes. In Washington DC these days, a story is told again and again that Biden himself once made public.

In 2014, Biden said in a speech to the Jewish Federation of North America that he and Netanyahu were “still friends,” albeit with a somewhat complicated relationship. Biden, then vice president, described this about a photo he once drew for Netanyahu with the words: “Bibi, I don’t agree with everything you say, but I love you.”

Ten years later, the love between the two is about to end. The president would never say it so publicly. The US is Israel’s most important ally, as Biden made abundantly clear after the Hamas terrorist attack on October 7. He traveled to Israel, he speaks on the phone with Netanyahu almost every week, and without the US there will be no solution to this war. Comedian Jon Stewart just said it in his own way on the Daily Show: The US has always been Israel’s emergency contact. But now it’s time for some moral tough love. So more harshness towards Israel. More protection for the Palestinian civilian population.

Biden needs a deal between Israel and Hamas

By Biden’s standards, the tone is also becoming increasingly harsh. Not as much as many left-wing and Muslim citizens in the country demand, but noticeable. Israel’s response in the Gaza Strip was “excessive,” Biden said in early February. His Vice President Kamala Harris recently said at the Munich Security Conference: “Israel must do more to protect civilians.” At the same time, Biden assures Netanyahu that work is being done around the clock to free the remaining hostages kidnapped by Hamas. It is the argument with which the US blocked a ceasefire resolution in the UN Security Council last week.

On Monday, Biden raised hopes of an impending ceasefire in the Gaza Strip. Asked when such an agreement could begin, the president said. “I hope by the end of the weekend.” We are close, Biden said. But there is still no agreement. The American president faces a dilemma: he needs Netanyahu to reach an agreement between Israel and Hamas. And the people of the Middle East need this deal above all to end the suffering. But Biden also needs him to somehow keep the issue out of his election campaign.

Biden predictably won the Democratic primaries in Michigan. But a significant portion of voters voted “uncommitted,” meaning they had not yet chosen any candidate on the ballot. The largest community of Arab Americans lives in the state, with more than 310,000 residents from the Middle East and North Africa. Biden needs this group in the election campaign, just like the younger left-wing voters who are extremely critical of Biden’s Middle East policy.

According to surveys, the black electorate, which leans more toward Biden, also sympathizes more with Palestinians than with white and Hispanic citizens. Many of them no longer believe in Biden’s Israel policy. In New York, Washington and other cities, posters for a ceasefire and a free Gaza hang in the windows. Cries of ‘Genocide Joe’ have been heard for weeks at demonstrations against the policies of the US government. Biden, the genocider.

Bibi, the “bastard”

This has not yet led to a real policy change for Biden. The 81-year-old’s loyalty is based not only on the US’s basic line toward Israel, but also on Biden’s own biography. Since October 7, Biden has spoken repeatedly about how his father’s stories about the Holocaust shaped him. Biden has been to Israel seven times as a senator, three times as vice president under Barack Obama and now twice as president, and has met with every prime minister since Golda Meir. Biden’s position on the Middle East is not volatile.

But his complicated relationship with Netanyahu – whom he once waited on during a dinner as vice president and whom he described in his first presidential election campaign as “counterproductive” and “right-wing extremist” – and his unwillingness to move more towards the American government to listen clearly enrage Biden.

According to an NBC report, Biden privately said of Netanyahu that he gave him “hell” and that it was impossible to negotiate with him. The stressful friend has therefore become an ‘asshole’. Biden is said to have said this several times about Netanyahu. Such reports are increasing, CNN, Politico and others are also reporting about them – in political Washington it is no coincidence that this is becoming public. The White House’s public language policy is one thing, semi-subtle messages are another.

A recent AP poll found that half of respondents now believe Israel’s response to the terrorist attack went too far. And the even more crucial number for Biden: 53 percent of Democratic voters no longer approve of Biden’s handling of the conflict.

Biden has not yet exerted the greatest influence

Biden’s Bibi problem is growing. Even if the announced ceasefire comes into effect this weekend, the US president will have to continue to take action. Netanyahu has announced that this pause would only delay his planned offensive in Rafah. Biden knows that there will be no long-term solution in the region with Netanyahu. But the Biden campaign needs short- and medium-term calm.

He has not yet used the greatest means of pressure: arms deliveries. According to the US Congressional Research Service, the US provided Israel with $158 billion in aid from 1948 to March 2023 (PDF). Most of it is military aid. Another $14.3 billion has already flowed since October 7, and more money is being negotiated in Congress. No longer supporting Israel in this form would be a turnaround for Biden that is currently difficult to imagine and that would cause problems for him with other groups of voters. Donald Trump’s only statement on Israel is reductively populist: none of this would have happened with him.

But Joe Biden won’t be able to play around much longer and move from one deal to another. Perhaps the president should sign a new photo for Benjamin Netanyahu in addition to his regular phone calls. “Bibi, I don’t agree with everything you say, I don’t love you anymore – and there will be consequences.”

This article first appeared on Zeit Online. Watson may have changed the headings and subheadings. Click here for the original.