Michael Goodwin
NY Post, Dec. 16, 2023
“… there’s no denying he’s been giving Israel help with one hand and slapping it with the other. Hardly a day passes without Biden or someone on his team scolding Netanyahu or the IDF.”
Over the many years they have been in the public eye, Joe Biden and Benjamin Netanyahu were never friends and rarely allies. Their fundamental political differences were compounded by years of long-distance disagreement.
Then suddenly, terrorism brought them together in something of a shotgun wedding. Biden visited Israel just 11 days after the Oct. 7 Hamas attack where he and Netanyahu embraced in an awkward, aborted hug.
In hindsight, that appears to have been the high point of their new relationship. It’s been downhill ever since and the gap between them is growing at an alarming pace. Headlines from recent days illustrate the tensions:
“Biden Warns Israel It Is ‘Losing Support’ Over War”
“In Dueling Remarks, Biden and Netanyahu Spar Over Gaza’s Future”
“Rifts Between Biden and Netanyahu Spill into Public View”
It is tempting to claim that a feud between the president and the prime minister was inevitable given their long history of contrasting parties and philosophies. But that explanation doesn’t do justice to the reasons driving the sudden change of tone.
The basic cause is the American political calendar and Biden’s scandalous bid to curry favor with American voters who oppose Israel, even after the Hamas slaughter.
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