By Carol E. Lee, Jonathan Allen, Peter Nicholas and Courtney Kube —
NBC News
President Joe Biden has vented his frustration in recent private conversations, some with donors to his election campaign, over his inability to persuade Israel to change its military tactics in the Gaza Strip, saying Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu as the main obstacle, according to five people familiar with the comments.
Biden has said he is trying to get Israel to agree to a ceasefire, but that Netanyahu is “dealing” with him and is impossible to deal with, said those sources, who asked not to be named.
“He just thinks enough is enough,” one of the people said, “[Netanyahu] has to stop” his offensive in Gaza.
Netanyahu hugs Biden upon arrival at Ben Gurion Airport in Tel Aviv on October 18, 2023. Brendan Smialowski / AFP via Getty Images
In recent weeks, Biden has spoken privately about Netanyahu, a leader he has known for decades, with a candor that has surprised some, according to people familiar with his comments.
Their descriptions of his relationship with the Israeli prime minister are peppered with derogatory references to him as “this guy,” these people said.
On at least three recent occasions
she has called Netanyahu “stupid
,” according to three of the people directly familiar with his remarks.
Asked about those private comments by Biden, a spokesperson for the National Security Council stated in a statement that both leaders maintain a respectful relationship: “The president has been clear in his disagreements with Netanyahu, but it is a decades-long relationship that is respectful.” in public and in private.”
Since hugging Netanyahu during a visit to Israel following the Hamas terrorist attack that killed 1,200 people on Oct. 7, Biden has grown increasingly frustrated by the rising Palestinian civilian death toll in Gaza — already rising. to 28,000—and Netanyahu's refusal to seek an agreement.
The candor of Biden's private, unfiltered reflections on Netanyahu, as well as the failure to get the Israeli prime minister to change tactics in Gaza, suggest that the dynamic between the two leaders could be approaching a tipping point.
Israel plans a ground assault on Rafah, a city in southern Gaza where more than a million Palestinians displaced from the north are sheltering.
Netanyahu has vowed to press ahead with the operation despite US officials repeatedly publicly expressing his opposition unless Israel provides safe passage for Palestinian civilians.
Biden told Netanyahu in a phone call that he believes “a military operation in Rafah should not proceed without a credible and executable plan” to protect and support Palestinian refugees there, the White House explained in a statement.
Most of the 45-minute conversation focused on a long-discussed but repeatedly delayed deal between Israel and Hamas to free hostages in exchange for a pause in military operations and the release of prisoners. Palestinians, according to the White House.
[The Biden Government analyzes slowing down the delivery of weapons to Israel to pressure Netanyahu for the offensive in Gaza]
Biden took a noticeably sharper tone on Thursday, calling Israel's military assault on Gaza "overblown."
Secretary of State Antony Blinken was also decidedly blunt last week after a meeting with Netanyahu in Israel.
Blinken claimed that he told the Israeli prime minister that the number of Palestinian civilians dying each day from Israel's military operations
“remains too high.”
However, people familiar with Biden's private comments said the president has told them he believes it would be counterproductive for him to be too tough on Netanyahu publicly.
Biden's frustrations with Netanyahu have also not led to major policy change, but his administration has begun to consider such options.
Two weeks ago, officials told NBC News that delaying or slowing arms sales to Israel was being considered as a means of pressure to get it to reduce military operations in Gaza and do more to protect civilians.
Hostages Fernando Marman, left, and Louis Har, photographed with their families at the Sheba Medical Center in Ramat Gan, Israel, on February 12, 2024. Avichay Adraee via Telegram
In another possible policy shift, NBC News reported last week that Biden administration officials are developing options to formally recognize an independent Palestinian state.
However, while Biden has stepped up his rhetoric, he is not yet prepared to make significant policy changes, according to officials.
He and his aides continue to believe that his approach of unequivocal support for Israel is the right one.
Some congressional Democrats have called for conditions on U.S. aid to Israel.
Others, including military veterans who fought in Iraq and Afghanistan, have cited that experience and questioned Israel's tactics, arguing that heavy bombing and high civilian casualties are counterproductive methods that threaten to provide more fuel to extremists.
One source of irritation that Biden has expressed in recent private conversations, according to people familiar with them, is that he believes his administration keeps proposing good deals for Israel, such as a recent one involving Saudi Arabia, only for Netanyahu to reject them.
An agreement to release the hostages and halt Israeli military operations would end weeks of high-level efforts by Biden and his top aides to secure a pact that they hope could ultimately lead to a long-term ceasefire.
But in some of his rawest private moments, the president has said that Netanyahu wants the war to drag on so he can stay in power, according to three of the people familiar with his sayings.
At a fundraiser Biden attended in recent weeks, he spoke about Israel and his frustrations with Netanyahu to a small group of donors.
Responding to her gratitude for her support of Israel and against anti-Semitism, Biden took the opportunity to lay out some of her views, according to a supporter who was present.
“I am a Zionist,” Biden said, reiterating his opinion that Hamas must be destroyed and Israel protected.
But Biden also showed his frustration with Netanyahu (nicknamed
Bibi
).
“He mentioned that
Bibi
started out great, but that 'she's been a pain in the ass lately' or 'she's killing me recently,'” recalled the person who was present during Biden's remarks.