Biden aides accuse ‘ungrateful’ Netanyahu of lying after PM blames ex-president for fallen troops

A top aide to former US president Joe Biden accuses Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of lying after the Israeli premier claimed that IDF soldiers lost their lives in Gaza as a result of an alleged arms embargo instituted by the previous administration.

“Netanyahu is both not telling the truth and ungrateful to a president that literally saved Israel at its most vulnerable moment,” Amos Hochstein tells the Axios news site moments after the prime minister made the claim during a press conference.

Hochstein was joined by fellow top Biden aide Brett McGurk, who told Axios, “That statement by Netanyahu is categorically false.”

“Biden left office with a ceasefire in Gaza and hostages coming home, a ceasefire in Lebanon with Hezbollah defeated, Iran in its weakest position since 1979 after two failed missile attacks thanks to the deployment of US military forces and a coordinated response that destroyed Iran’s air defenses. His commitment to Israel’s security to include US military assistance was unwavering throughout the crisis,” McGurk says of Biden.

Netanyahu has repeatedly accused the previous administration of instituting an arms embargo during the Gaza war — something Biden officials have long denied, arguing that Washington only withheld one shipment of high-payload bombs due to concerns they’d be used in densely populated areas, putting civilians at risk.

Netanyahu made the accusation in an apparent effort to explain comments he made in an interview with The Economist during which he claimed that Israel lost soldiers in Gaza because of his “refusal” to “carpet bomb” cities before the IDF invaded them on foot.

Critics of the premier pointed out that his Likud party repeatedly blasted political rival and former IDF chief of staff Benny Gantz for making similar comments to foreign press while explaining the Israeli military’s efforts to avoid civilian casualties.