Biden-Netanyahu feud over Gaza war is unhelpful

The Hamas terrorists and their malevolent masters in Iran will be the only winners if the damaging rift between Joe Biden and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is not reined in. One hundred and sixty days into the Gaza war, what is needed is the closest possible co-operation and understanding between Washington and its key Middle East ally on how to defeat Hamas and both secure the release of Israeli hostages and bring an end to the suffering of Gaza’s desperate people.

What is being seen instead, as chief international correspondent Cameron Stewart reported, is a dangerously intensifying “feud” between the two leaders, which can only play into the hands of the evil perpetrators of the October 7 massacre of Jews and make it more difficult to achieve the end to the war that is needed. Neither side can escape blame for this undermining of a bilateral relationship that is vital to the interests of all the world’s democracies in their battle against religious terrorism.

Mr Biden’s strong leadership in support of Israel in the immediate aftermath of the October 7 pogrom has since been replaced by apparently deep differences with Mr Netanyahu being played out in public over civilian casualties caused by Israel’s attempt to defend itself in a war started by Hamas, not the Jewish state. Specifically, his repeated warnings that an Israeli attack on Hamas’s last remaining stronghold, Rafah, in southern Gaza – where Hamas leaders and their fighters have callously embedded themselves among what are effectively 1.5 million civilian human shields – would be a “red line” that Israel must not cross, have infuriated Mr Netanyahu.

So, too, has Washington’s scarcely disguised “deep throat” role in deliberately leaking a secret US intelligence agency report warning Mr Netanyahu’s hold on power “may be in jeopardy” because public distrust towards him has “deepened and broadened”. Mr Netanyahu, as Stewart reported, is the ultimate political survivor. Nothing angers him more than the prospect of losing power. His incandescent rage was evident when Israel’s Channel 12 television, in words attributed to a “very senior” Israeli official but believed to be those of the Israeli leader himself, reported him to be “fuming” with anger. Mr Netanyahu has not helped end the damaging rift. He has turned a deaf ear to Mr Biden’s repeated entreaties not to launch a ground attack on Rafah, despite it being the terrorists’ last remaining stronghold and a hideout for Hamas’s top commanders. Mr Netanyahu has rejected the demands, insisting his forces will do whatever they have to do and will ignore what appears to be Mr Biden’s dichotomous and barely credible view that while Israel has the right to defend itself, it must stop the war now, with Hamas still in control of Rafah.

With such an immense amount at stake in the war, not just for Israel but democracies everywhere, both leaders need to do better than this. Whatever his fears about anti-Israel sentiment within his Democratic Party in an election year, Mr Biden would be wise not to ignore the analogies between the overwhelming imperatives and voter support the US had after 9/11 to ruthlessly go after and destroy al-Qa’ida; similar imperatives are driving Israel’s determination to avenge the October 7 pogrom. Neither, however, must Mr Netanyahu overlook the legitimate concern of Israel’s allies that he ensure the Jewish state does everything possible to minimise civilian casualties.

Neither Mr Biden nor Mr Netanyahu has anything to gain from the feud.