Israeli officials to ToI: Government’s West Bank policies, rhetoric harming support from US

The policies of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s coalition in the West Bank have “infuriated” US President Joe Biden’s administration in recent days, “distracting” Washington from providing more full-throttled support to Israel amid the war with Hamas, two Israeli officials tell The Times of Israel, speaking on condition of anonymity as they criticize the government.

One of the officials points to the longstanding issue of settler violence, which the government has rarely condemned and hasn’t spoken out against since the outbreak of the war with Hamas, even as the phenomenon has had deadly ramifications and risks opening up an additional front in the West Bank.

“This isn’t just something being raised by the State Department. It’s gotten all the way up to the president who has talked about it publicly and privately in the middle of a war,” the Israeli official laments, appearing to point his frustration at Jerusalem, not at Washington.

The other official highlights Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich’s announcement earlier this week that he would not be transferring tax revenues belonging to the Palestinian Authority due to what the far-right lawmaker claimed was Ramallah’s support for the October 7 massacre by Hamas. The cabinet ultimately rejected the idea and voted to transfer the funds amid pressure from Washington, but it did say it would deduct what reportedly amounts to roughly $100 million to offset the PA transfers to Gaza.

“There’s a feeling in the administration that Israel over the years worked to weaken the [Palestinian] Authority at the expense of Hamas, and decisions like this only strengthen that claim,” the Israeli official says.

The Israeli official also points to tweets from far-right members of the government, such as Heritage Minister Amichai Eliyahu and Likud MK Galit Distal-Atbaryan, who have called for wiping out all of Gaza in response to the Hamas onslaught, which he says have also caught the attention of the US and angered it.

“We need the full support of the administration right now, and anything that takes away from that support harms Israel’s interests,” the Israeli official says.