President Biden was heavily criticized by conservatives on social media over a recorded interview in which he appeared to agree with the premise that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu was prolonging the war with Hamas for his own political gain.
“Some in Israel are suggesting that Prime Minister Netanyahu is prolonging the war for his own political self-preservation. Do you agree?” Biden was asked in an interview with Time magazine published Tuesday.
“I’m not going to comment on that,” Biden responded. “There’s good reason for people to draw that conclusion. And I cite as an example the backlash he got from the Israeli military before the war started, when they wanted to change the constitution, they wanted to change the courts. So this is a domestic debate that doesn’t seem to have any impact. I don’t know if he’s going to change his position, but it’s not helping.”
Biden’s response drew immediate negative reactions from many on social media.
Netanyahu says Biden’s Gaza ceasefire plan is ‘incomplete’
President Biden (left) and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu (Getty Images)
“Israel says it is heading to Rafah to recover the hostages,” said Spectator editor Stephen L. Miller. Posted in X. “Biden told Israel to wait, sent Blinken to Qatar and Egypt, built a broken pier in Gaza, Israel agreed. Biden now accuses Israel of prolonging a war they didn’t start. Totally incompetent villain. A real political sociopath.”
“Biden has been exerting incoherent pressure on Israel for months not to end the mission, and there is ‘good reason’ to conclude that it was for his own political self-preservation,” Fox News contributor Guy Benson said. Post to X“When will Biden demand that Israel not defend itself against attacks in the north?”
“That’s a terrible lie,” said Republican Senator Ted Cruz. Post to X“Sadly, the Biden White House is the most anti-Israel White House in history. Will there be a single Democrat who will condemn Biden’s slander?”
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The displaced Palestinians fled the southern Gaza city of Rafah on May 9 and arrived in central Gaza. (AP/Abdel Kareem Hana)
“I want everyone to read what Biden said this morning,” said Fox News host and conservative commentator Mark Levin. Posted in X. “And what a loathsome, disgusting anti-Semite he is. He’s undermining Netanyahu so that Biden can demand Israel’s surrender and declare peace in our time for his nasty, rotten reelection campaign.”
“This whole thing is patently sociopathic,” said Omri Thelen, national security adviser to Senator Cruz. Posted in X.
“Biden has mobilized unprecedented domestic and international pressure to slow Israel’s invasion of Gaza. A crazy campaign: politicizing and leaking classified US information, encouraging US allies to pressure Israel, telling Israel it can’t help (relatedly, supporting binding UN Security Council resolutions), cutting off aid, threatening to cut off further aid especially if Israel advances into Rafah, multiple extravagant aid stunts (airdrops and piers), a days-long news cycle on all of the above, etc. Now Biden is saying Netanyahu is prolonging the war for political reasons. Completely sociopathic.”
“Nobody is listening to what’s going on in the north of Israel,” former Israeli ambassador to the United States Michael Oren said in an interview. “This interview is an inappropriate attack on the Israeli political system. The United States should not be meddling in what’s going on in Israeli politics.”
The White House did not respond to a request for comment from Fox News Digital.
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Biden appeared to walk back his remarks in response to a question shouted by a reporter after his statement on Tuesday about his executive orders on immigration.
“I don’t think so. He’s trying to solve a serious problem.” Biden: When asked if Prime Minister Netanyahu was “playing politics” with the war.
