What is Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu saying on Monday when he was caught on a hot mic telling a senator that President Biden needs to “come to Jesus” and meet with the leader of the Jewish state? He said he had no idea what was going on.
“I don’t know. Jesus wasn’t born that far from here, but I’m not familiar with the term,” Netanyahu said during an appearance on “Fox & Friends” with Biden and Michael Bennet after the State of the Union address. Asked about his interactions with senators, he said: (D-Kolo.)
During the meeting, Bennett was heard urging the 81-year-old president to continue pushing Netanyahu to address humanitarian concerns in Gaza. To this, Biden responded, “I told him, Bibi, don’t repeat this, but we’re going to come to Jesus and have a rally.”
“If that means having heart-to-heart conversations, we’ve had those conversations many times in the 40 years I’ve known Joe Biden and in the 12 or 13 conversations we’ve had since the beginning. I can say that we have done it,” Netanyahu said on Monday.
Israel’s prime minister acknowledged there are “differences” with the Biden administration over how to achieve the country’s goal of eliminating Hamas terrorists in the Gaza Strip, but at least the two countries are united. He emphasized the importance of appearing like this.
“As long as the world thinks that America and Israel are united, that helps the war effort, and it helps our efforts to achieve victory and obviously the release of the hostages. Hamas is between us. As long as we believe it will see the light of day, it is useless,” Netanyahiyu said.
The response to Hamas terrorists hiding in the southern Gaza city of Rafah, where more than 1.3 million people have fled, is one of the areas of disagreement between Prime Minister Netanyahu and Biden.
Biden warned that Israel’s invasion of Rafah would cross a “red line that should not be crossed,” but noted that it would not completely cut off US access to Israeli weapons.
Netanyau insists that he needs to invade Rafah to completely eradicate Hamas.
“We cannot leave a quarter of Hamas’s terror squad alone. They are in Rafah,” the prime minister said. “This would be the same as the Allies counterattacking, going through Normandy, going through Germany, and then saying, ‘Well, if we leave a quarter of the Nazi forces there, we can win.’ Do not enter Berlin, the last stronghold. ”
“Victory is near,” Prime Minister Netanyahu insisted, adding that the IDF had no intention of “cutting off the gas pedal” and eliminating Rafah’s Hamas was a “precondition for victory.”
“This victory is important not only for us, but also for the civilized world, which is fighting barbarians,” he said.
