‘Stop bullshitting me’: Biden said to scold Netanyahu in call on truce-hostage deal
PM reportedly emboldened to act against enemies since US president pulled out of race; NYT says Biden told PM killing of Haniyeh in Tehran ‘poorly timed,’ could spark regional war
US President Joe Biden told Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to “stop bullshitting me” during their phone conversation on Thursday, a report said Saturday evening.
Channel 12 news reported, without citing sources, that the outburst had come after Netanyahu told Biden that Israel was moving forward with negotiations on a hostages-for-ceasefire deal with Hamas and would soon send a delegation to resume talks.
Those talks have been ongoing for many months without results, and Biden has previously opined that Netanyahu has been intentionally stalling for internal political reasons.
At the end of Thursday’s conversation, Biden also reportedly said: “Don’t take the president for granted.”
According to Channel 12, this comment was made in the context of Israeli-American cooperation in a potential all-out war with Iran and its proxies, amid sky-high tensions as Iran and its proxy terror groups vow revenge for the recent killing of several terror chiefs. Biden corraled regional powers to help repel Iran’s unprecedented missile-and-drone strike on Israel the night of April 13-14.
Netanyahu’s office responded to Saturday’s report by saying the prime minister does not comment on the content of his private discussions with the US president. The statement claimed that the premier “does not intervene in American politics and will work with whoever is elected president, and expects the Americans to also not intervene in Israeli politics.”
Meanwhile, The New York Times reported that Biden had said during the call that the Wednesday assassination of Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh in Iran was “poorly timed,” coming “right at what the Americans hoped would be the endgame” of talks for a ceasefire and hostage release deal.
Citing an unnamed US official, the newspaper said Biden also argued that the operation could spark war. Carrying out the operation in Tehran, Biden reportedly specified, could trigger the wider regional war that he has been trying to avert.
Netanyahu, the report said, denied being the side impeding the negotiations, placing the blame on Hamas, as the premier’s office has been publicly contending.
Separately, the Telegraph reported Saturday, citing a senior Israeli official, that Netanyahu has been feeling more emboldened to strike Iran since Biden’s July 21 decision to drop out of the 2024 US presidential race.
Biden’s “true agenda is to support Israel fully. And he has done so for decades,” the Israeli official told the British outlet. “Netanyahu knows this, which is why he’s being more bold and feels confident that he can attack Israel’s enemies and still have the full support of the US.”
Biden’s withdrawal came amid concerns over his age and mental acuity following a disastrous June 27 debate performance against his Republican rival, former US president Donald Trump. Biden’s presumptive successor, US Vice President Kamala Harris, also joined Thursday’s call, the White House said.
The official who spoke to the Telegraph called Biden’s withdrawal a “big game changer” in the Middle East.
On Wednesday, an explosion in Tehran killed Haniyeh. Iran has threatened to exact revenge on Israel, which has neither confirmed nor denied its role in the assassination.
Biden publicly said Thursday that the assassination of Hamas’s lead negotiator “doesn’t help” efforts to secure a truce in Gaza and the release of hostages held there.
The US president made that comment at Maryland’s Joint Andrews Base, where he was awaiting the arrival of Americans detained in Russia.
During the press conference, Biden addressed his “very direct” conversation with Netanyahu earlier in the day, saying he had urged the prime minister to reach a deal quickly.
“We have the basis for a ceasefire. He should move on it and they should move on it now,” Biden said, adding that he is “very concerned” about the soaring tensions in the Middle East.
An Axios report said Friday that the Biden administration is frustrated that it was kept in the dark by Israel about the assassination plans after Netanyahu gave the impression in Washington last week that he was taking on board the US president’s ardor to close a hostage-ceasefire deal with Hamas in Gaza.
The report, which cited a US official, described Thursday’s phone conversation between the two men as “tough.”
