Joe Biden has criticised Benjamin Netanyahu over his Gaza operations, calling him an ‘as***ole,’ during a private conversation.
In Short
- Joe Biden has been vocal in his demand that Israel should not undertake a ground offensive in Gaza’s Rafah
- Biden’s team has been trying to negotiate a pause in the fighting in order to secure the release of hostages
- Biden and Netanyahu spoke for about 45 minutes, days after Biden said Israel’s military response in Gaza was “over the top”
US President Joe Biden has reportedly slammed Israeli President Benjamin Netanyahu and called him an ‘as***ole’, during a private conversation.
According to a report with NBC News, Biden, while talking about Netanyahu’s Gaza operations, expressed his exasperation, and said he (Biden) was trying to get Israel to agree to a ceasefire, but Netanyahu was “giving him hell” and that it was impossible to deal with.
The development, according to the report, was confirmed by three people familiar with Biden’s comments.
The US President also said Netanyahu’s Gaza operation was ‘enough and needed to stop’.
On Sunday, in a nearly 45-minute-long conversation, Biden told Netanyahu that Israel should not launch a military operation in Rafah without a credible plan to ensure the safety of the roughly 1 million people sheltering there, the White House said.
Earlier, during the start of this month too, the US President had privately slammed Netanyahu, calling him a “bad f***ing guy” as the Israel-Hamas war rages and international support for the Jewish nation dwindles.
Later, however, Joe Biden’s spokesperson Andrew Bates, dismissed the usage of offensive words by the US President, saying he “did not say that, nor would he”.
According to a report with CNN, Joe Biden has grown increasingly frustrated behind the scenes with his Israeli counterpart, telling advisers and others that he (Netanyahu) is ignoring his advice and obstructing efforts to alleviate the humanitarian crisis in Gaza.
So far, Biden has stopped short of directly criticising Netanyahu in public. But he has become increasingly critical of Israel’s tactics, saying last week he believes the campaign in Gaza is “over the top,” one of his sharpest condemnations to date of the military effort against Hamas.
This article was originally published on India today.
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