In his new book 'War', Bob Woodward gives us all a bird's eye view into Biden's frank and often profanity-laden conversations with his national security team as he faced international crises and escalating hostilities on the geopolitical stage during his final year of presidency.
Woodward describes the roller-coaster relationship between Biden and Netanyahu. He explains that although, when he faced the world, Biden supported Israel, publicly he was furious with Netanyahu about the Israel-Gaza War. He didn't want Israel to enter Rafah and accused Bibi of having no strategy when he explained that they had to go in. When the IDF entered Rafah, Biden was besides himself, and said that Netanyahu was "a f***ing liar."
Once again, he interfered with Israel's plans after they killed a top IRGC general in Syria. In response, Iran's launched more than 100 ballistic missiles towards Israel, not using its proxies but targeting Israel from Iranian territory.
Israel defended itself, but was aided by the US, Saudi Arabia, Jordan and other US allies. When Netanyahu wanted to retaliate, Biden instructed Netanyahu, “You don’t need to make another move. Do nothing."
In the end, Israel launched a limited, calibrated strike against Iran.
But, to Biden's great dismay and after he and his administration expended countless hours badgering Israel to end the the war, the hostilities continued.
In July, Israel assassinated Fuad Shukr in Beirut.
Shukr was also an American enemy, who was very instrumental in the bombing of the US Marine Corps barracks in Beirut in 1983, in which 241 US service members lost their lives. In fact, the US even had a $5 million bounty on Shukr’s head when he was killed, as reported by The Times of Israel.
Notwithstanding this, when Biden learned of the assassination, he once again called Netanyahu to castigate him, saying, "Bibi, What the ****?"
Netanyahu explained, "In the Middle East, the harder we strike, the stronger our chances for negotiations are."
Biden also said, to Netanyahu, “You know the perception of Israel around the world increasingly is that you’re a rogue state, a rogue actor."
According to the Times of Israel, Woodward said that when US Secretary of State Antony Blinken met the Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman to discuss normalizing ties with Israel, Blinken asked whether the Saudis insisted on a Palestinian state before they would be willing to make a normalization deal. Bin Salman explained that when it comes to normalization, “it doesn’t matter that much [to me– but] Do I need it? Absolutely.”
As Biden's long career and presidency draws to a close, Israel-US relations are at an all-time low point, with a tremendous breakdown in trust between countries who are supposed to be close allies.
Kikar Shabbat and CNN contributed to this article.
