Amid escalating threats by Iran, Biden pledges ‘ironclad’ US commitment to Israel
President says waiting for PM to honor Gaza aid pledges; tells Hamas to accept truce-hostage deal, day after airing of interview in which he seemed to put onus exclusively on Israel
Jacob Magid is The Times of Israel's US bureau chief
US President Joe Biden on Wednesday stressed his commitment to Israel’s security in the face of increasingly belligerent threats from Iran, amid growing concerns from some backers of the Jewish state that Washington is moving away from Jerusalem due to frustration over its prosecution of the war against Hamas in Gaza.
Speaking at a White House press conference alongside visiting Japanese Prime Minister Prime Minister Kishida Fumio, Biden said that in their earlier Oval Office meeting, the two of them “addressed the Iranian threat, as they threaten to launch a significant attack on Israel.”
Hours earlier, Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei said Israel “must be punished and it shall be” for allegedly attacking an Iranian consular building in Syria’s Damascus, killing two generals among several Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps officers. The IRGC is a US-designated terrorist organization.
“As I told Prime Minister Netanyahu, our commitment to Israel’s security against these threats from Iran and its proxies is ironclad. Let me say it again, ironclad. We’re going to do all we can to protect Israel’s security,” Biden said.
The remarks came a day after the Spanish Univision network aired an interview taped last week in which Biden urged Israel to agree to a weeks-long ceasefire in Gaza, without mentioning Hamas or the 133 hostages that the terror group took on October 7 and is still holding.
“What I’m calling for is for the Israelis to just call for a ceasefire, allow for the next six, eight weeks, total access to all food and medicine going into the country,” Biden said. A senior White House official told The Times of Israel afterward that he was referring to the hostage deal currently being negotiated by the US, Qatar and Egypt.
גורם בבית הלבן על האמירה פה של הנשיא ביידן שקורא להפסקת אש: ״הנשיא התכוון להפסקת אש במסגרת מו״מ לשחרור חטופים, זו עמדתנו העקבית וזה לא השתנה״. הראיון צולם בשבוע שעבר לפני שיחת ביידן עם רה״מ נתניהו pic.twitter.com/EIvtvFBQPl
— יונה לייבזון yuna leibzon (@YunaLeibzon) April 10, 2024
Asked whether Netanyahu is more concerned about his own political survival than Israel’s national interest, Biden responded, “I think what he’s doing is a mistake… I don’t agree with his approach.”
The Univision interview was taped last Wednesday — two days after the WCK strike and a day before Biden held a call with Netanyahu during which he reportedly threatened to cease support of Israel during the war unless Jerusalem made major changes to address the humanitarian crisis in Gaza.
Hours after that call, the security cabinet voted to open another northern crossing into Gaza for aid, allow maritime aid deliveries through its Ashdod Port, expand the aid convoys it allows in through Jordan and develop more effective deconfliction mechanisms to ensure that humanitarian workers are protected.
At the Wednesday press conference, Biden said he was waiting for Netanyahu to fulfill the commitments he made during their call last week, given that the northern crossing remains closed and aid has yet to be transferred through Ashdod Port.
“Bibi and I had a long discussion. He agreed to do several things that related to… getting more aid — both food and medicine — into Gaza and reducing significantly the… civilian casualties in any action taken in the region,” Biden said.
“That’s tied to the hostages,” he added, indicating that drops in aid and an increase in civilian casualties harm efforts to secure the release of the hostages.
Edan Alexander. Sagui Dekel-Chen. Hersh Goldberg-Polin. Omer Neutra. Keith Siegel. These are innocent Americans who were brutally taken hostage by Hamas 186 days ago.
As I told their loved ones today: @POTUS and I are doing everything we can to reunite these hostages with their… pic.twitter.com/BYeYeHyfgv
— Vice President Kamala Harris Archived (@VP46Archive) April 9, 2024
The president noted that there has been an increase over the past several days in the amount of aid that’s getting into Gaza, but insisted that “it’s not enough” and that “we need more.”
“There’s one more [crossing] that has to [be opened in] the north. We’ll see what [Netanyahu] does in terms of meeting the commitments he made to me,” Biden said.
Netanyahu reportedly has yet to submit the formal directives to open the northern crossing and allow aid through Ashdod Port, amid likely pushback from several far-right ministers whose cooperation will be needed for the task.
Nonetheless, Biden went on to suggest that the ball was now in Hamas’s court to accept a proposal on the table for a six-week truce that would see some of the hostages released from Gaza.
“It’s now up to Hamas. They need to move on the proposal that has been made [so we can] get these hostages home where they belong,” Biden said. “It also brings back a six-week ceasefire that we need now.”
Biden noted relatives of some of the American hostages met this week with US Vice President Kamala Harris and National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan. “They know how committed we are… to getting their loved ones home. We’re not going to stop until we do.”
