‘Dangerous for Israel’: Critics slam government’s handling of US ties amid arms row

US President Joe Biden’s threat to withhold arms in the event of a full-on Rafah incursion has sparked harsh domestic criticism of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, with critics panning both his handling of relations with the United States and his far-right allies’ “insulting” denunciations of Jerusalem’s closest ally.

“The mess-up of this becoming a public disagreement during wartime is entirely on the government,” Opposition Leader Yair Lapid told Radio 103FM on Thursday, condemning what he said was the government’s “failed management” of the bilateral relationship.

Lapid cited remarks by Netanyahu during Holocaust Remembrance Day pledging to go it alone if needed, which came days after Biden signed a hard-fought bill into law allocating billions of dollars in foreign assistance to Israel’s military.

“It wasn’t supposed to come to this,” the opposition leader said. “The prime minister, one minute after the Americans give us $14 billion, stands at Yad Vashem on Holocaust Remembrance Day and says that ‘if Israel has to stand alone, it will stand alone.’ The Americans were offended by this.”

On CNN Wednesday night, Biden announced that his administration would stop providing Israel with offensive weapons if it launches a ground invasion into populated parts of the southern Gaza city of Rafah as part of its campaign to topple the Hamas terror group.

“I’ve made it clear to Bibi and the war cabinet: They’re not going to get our support if they go [into] these population centers,” Biden said, using Netanyahu’s nickname.

The CNN interview marked Biden’s toughest public comments yet on the matter, as concern has grown in the administration that Israel is not planning to heed US warnings against a major offensive that the White House feels wouldn’t take into account the million-plus Palestinians sheltering in Gaza’s southernmost city.

Responding to Biden’s announcement, several members of Netanyahu’s hard-right government slammed Biden, accusing him of weakness and alleging that his actions were good for Hamas.

Heritage Minister Amichay Eliyahu, from the hardline Otzma Yehudit party, accused Biden of following the path of former British prime minister Neville Chamberlain, who attempted to appease Nazi German dictator Adolf Hitler in 1938. Otzma Yehudit leader and National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir simply tweeted “Hamas (loves) Biden.”

Hamas ❤️Biden

— איתמר בן גביר (@itamarbengvir) May 9, 2024

In response, Lapid demanded that Netanyahu fire Ben Gvir, stating that failing to do so “endangers every soldier in the IDF and every citizen in the State of Israel.”

Outgoing Labor chief Merav Michaeli likewise took aim at Netanyahu and his government, tweeting that they “continue to make Israel’s strategic situation worse and take us closer and closer to existential danger.

“This is what Netanyahu has done throughout his time in office. Now it is out in the open for all to see, and his sidekick is an embarrassing hilltop youth who only knows how to shout ‘I’m the boss around here,’” she wrote, referring to Ben Gvir. She added,  “Netanyahu is dangerous for Israel.”

Since the start of the war with its various fronts — against Hamas, Hezbollah, the Houthis in Yemen, all backed by Iran — Israel has received weapons and ammunition, by air and by sea, almost entirely from the US.

But despite Netanyahu’s announcement of a “multi-year plan to free Israel from dependence on external purchases,” as of January sources in the defense industry have said that no preparation has been made to date for new production lines, nor have instructions been issued for factories to expand their local production capabilities instead of relying on imports.

״Our relationship with the US is the strongest anchor in Israel’s security concept. Those who do not understand this or speak nonsense and deliberately harm our relations — harm Israel’s security,” MK Evgeny Sova of the hawkish opposition Yisrael Beytenu told The Times of Israel.

“The stupid tweets of members of the government towards the USA cause us strategic damage. The responsibility lies first of all with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu for not stopping this torrent that started even before October 7th.”

Some right-wing members of the government have expressed support for former US president Donald Trump and criticism of Biden in recent months.

In February, Ben Gvir said that “if Trump were in power, the US’s conduct would be completely different,” while Heritage Minister Amichai Eliyahu warned that Biden “is leading us to a disaster.”

And last month, Diaspora Minister Amichai Chikli declared that if he were American he would vote for Trump.

Criticism of Netanyahu and his allies came not only from the opposition but also from members of his own coalition, with National Unity MK Matan Kahana tweeting that “relations with the Americans should be managed in a way that will allow us to stand our ground… for example in the case of the IDF operation in Rafah.

“Unnecessary and stupid statements and damage to trust resulting from not complying with the decisions agreed on with the Americans harm our ability to stand our ground in the important moments and things,” he said.

Jerusalem “dragging its feet” on aid to Gaza “is a breach of trust with our friend,” he said. “So are offensive statements against President Biden and unnecessary interference in American domestic politics against a sitting president.”

Kahana’s fellow National Unity MK Pnina Tamano-Shata appeared to agree, telling The Times of Israel that “it is better and necessary for Netanyahu to resolve the disputes with the American government in closed rooms,” preferably before they become public.

Asked who is responsible for the growing divide with the US over the IDF’s operations in Gaza, Likud MK Danny Danon replied that the only blameworthy thing the government did was to slow down the pace of military operations last year.

“We should have moved full speed ahead and by now we would have been post-Rafah,” he said.

His comment echoed critics on the right such as New Hope chairman Gideon Sa’ar, who has previously complained that “it was necessary to act on a faster schedule” in Gaza.

President Isaac Herzog also weighed in, declaring that “even when there are disagreements and moments of disappointment between friends and allies, the disputes should be resolved in a certain way, and it is beholden upon all of us to avoid baseless, irresponsible and insulting statements and tweets that harm the national security and the interests of the State of Israel.”

Speaking at a state ceremony commemorating the Allies’ victory over Nazi Germany, Herzog announced that he wanted “to say thank you to President Biden who is a great friend of the State of Israel, and who has proved as much from the first day of the war.”

An overwhelming majority of Israelis believe that Netanyahu must take responsibility for the staggering failures that led to Hamas’s devastating onslaught on October 7, when the terror group’s forces surged across the border, killing some 1,200 people, the majority of them civilians, and taking 252 hostage.

Sixty-two percent of Israelis — both Jewish and Arab — believe it is time for those responsible for the failures of October 7 to resign from their positions, according to an Israel Democracy Institute poll conducted last month.

Jacob Magid, Tal Schneider and Joshua Davidovich contributed to this report.