Status: 15.01.2024, 17:56 PM
By: Kilian Beck
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Relations between the U.S. and Israel are cooling. Biden and Netanyahu haven't spoken on the phone since late December. The U.S. military is bombing the Houthi militia in Yemen.
Washington, D.C. – After 100 days of war in Israel and Gaza, the alliance between Israel and the United States is crumbling. U.S. President Joe Biden is "increasingly frustrated" by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's rejection of the U.S. administration's plans for the post-war period and the protection of Palestinian civilians. This was reported by the US portal Axios, citing several anonymous officials.
Joe Biden and Benjamin Netanyahu have their differences. Nevertheless, the U.S. will stand by Israel. © IMAGO/Avi Ohayon/Israel Gpo
At the same time, Biden is challenged in another conflict closely related to the Israel war. The United States has been active as the leading power of a naval coalition in the Red Sea for some time. The Yemeni Houthi rebels have repeatedly attacked merchant ships there since the Islamist Hamas attack Israel. That is why the US and Great Britain recently launched a series of air strikes on the Houthi militia in Yemen.
Mullah regime in Iran warns US against attacks on Houthis in Yemen
Iran says it has called on the US to work to end the Gaza war. "We have warned America in various messages about Switzerland of the need to end the war in Gaza," Foreign Minister Hussein Amirabdollahian said in Tehran on Monday. Switzerland represents US interests in Iran, and the two countries have not had diplomatic relations for more than 44 years.
Amirabdollahian warned the U.S. about attacks on targets in Yemen. "America cannot give us and others a message of restraint and at the same time attack Yemen in the Red Sea," the minister said. After the start of the Gaza war, the militant Islamist Houthi rebels had repeatedly attacked ships on the important sea route to Israel.
The Houthis in Yemen, like the Islamist Hamas in the Gaza Strip and the Lebanese Shiite organization Hezbollah, belong to the so-called "Axis of Resistance", a network in the fight against Israel. The Jewish state has been Iran's declared archenemy since the Islamic Revolution of 1979.
US senator: Netanyahu gives Biden the "middle finger"
In Washington, frustration with Netanyahu and his ultra-right governing coalition is also growing in Congress. For example, Democratic Senator Chris Van Hollen criticized Axios: "Netanyahu has given Biden the middle finger on every decision." The coalition in Jerusalem had "repeatedly slapped the U.S. government in the face" when negotiating constructive solutions from a U.S. perspective. Since the end of December, the portal reported, Biden and Netanyahu have not spoken to each other. (dpa/kb)