JERUSALEM — Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu arrived in Washington, DC, on Monday night in preparation for his address to Congress on Wednesday. This will be Netanyahu’s first meeting with President Biden on U.S. soil since the Iran-backed terrorist organization Hamas massacred some 1,200 people, including about 30 Americans, and took about 250 hostages on October 7.
The two leaders have sharp differences over Israel’s war efforts in the Gaza Strip, where Hamas is based, most notably Israel’s decision to defy Biden and seek military control of the southern Gaza city of Rafah, the last stronghold of Hamas forces and hostages that the United States has designated a terrorist organization.
Caroline Glick, an American-Israeli commentator and former Netanyahu adviser, told Fox News Digital: “The Biden-Netanyahu meeting revealed that the two leaders have diametrically opposed positions. Like most Israelis, Netanyahu remains committed to achieving Israel’s war objectives: destroying Hamas as a military and political organization, returning all hostages, preventing Gaza from posing a future threat to Israel, tipping the strategic balance in northern Israel entirely in Israel’s favor, and allowing the 80,000 Israelis living in hotels in towns along the Lebanese border since being evacuated in October to return safely to their homes.”
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“The Biden-Netanyahu meeting revealed that the two leaders have diametrically opposed positions,” Caroline Glick, an American-Israeli commentator and former adviser to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, told Fox News Digital. (AP | Getty Images)
“Biden wants a ceasefire that does not achieve any of these goals. In the meeting, he will pressure Netanyahu to abandon Israel’s war goals and accept a ceasefire. Netanyahu will seek to secure arms supplies so that Israel has the weapons it needs to win,” said Glick, who lives in Jerusalem.
Following the Rafah invasion in May, Hamas softened its negotiating stance in talks this month on a ceasefire and the release of hostages, Netanyahu said.
Veteran observers of relations say the Israeli prime minister has used boilerplate diplomatic language about relations with the Biden administration and at times pandered to anti-Israel forces within his far-left base.
Netanyahu is scheduled to meet with President Biden on Thursday to discuss the war’s objectives. The Times of Israel reported: As he departs for Washington from Israel on Monday, the prime minister said the meeting was “an opportunity to discuss with the prime minister how to advance the key goals for both our countries in the critical months ahead – achieving the release of all hostages, defeating Hamas, confronting the Iranian terror axis and ensuring the safe return of all Israelis to their homes in the north and south.”
Biden continues to call for a ceasefire to stop the war and has urged Netanyahu to lay out a concrete plan for Gaza after Hamas falls.
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A woman holds a sign calling for the release of hostages during a protest. (Amir Levy/Getty Images)
Fox News Digital spoke to people across Israel, a Jewish state roughly the size of New Jersey, about the complex dynamics of Israeli-American relations and what Prime Minister Netanyahu’s visit means for both democracies as he addresses Congress on Wednesday.
“I think it’s crucial now for Bibi to go to Congress and tell the pro-Israel camp that they need help. What I fear and hate is the Democrats, especially the current president Biden, who hates Israel,” said Dov Yitzhak Nir, a resident of Gush Etzion in the Judean Mountains. The international community calls the Biblical region of Judea and Samaria the West Bank.
Neal said that because Israel is the only democracy in the Middle East, “America must support this country because it has American values.”
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu met with IDF soldiers on the front line ahead of the expected ground operation. (Benjamin Netanyahu/@netanyahu)
Dalia, who lives in Tel Aviv, Israel’s second-largest city, agreed with Neil.
“Israel is the only democracy in the Middle East and an ally of the United States. The relationship and friendship between our two countries is extremely important and I hope it will last forever. Biden has been relatively cooperative. Relatively is the operative word,” she said, also slamming the far-left Democratic “Squad” of lawmakers who hold anti-Israel views.
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“The U.S. needs to recognize that Israel is its greatest ally in the region and is on the front lines in the fight against radical Islamic terrorism,” said David Binette, also a Tel Aviv resident.
“I don’t think Biden is doing enough for Israel. I think he needs to do more for us. I want him to unite with us against Iran, Lebanon and Gaza, because in the end Iran will not only attack us but also the US. Most of the US people are on our side… I don’t know about the government,” Tzvia said.
TEL AVIV, ISRAEL – JUNE 15, 2024: Thousands of Israelis protest in Tel Aviv, Israel, demanding the resignation of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and the immediate release of Israeli hostages held by Hamas. Anti-government protests have been taking place almost weekly for the past eight months, fueled by frustration over the failure of Netanyahu’s government to secure the release of the remaining 120 hostages, Israeli and foreign, abducted by Hamas to the Gaza Strip on October 7, 2023. (Photo by David Silverman/Getty Images) (Photo: David Silverman/Getty Images)
On the eve of Netanyahu’s speech to Congress, a bipartisan group of former Israeli national security officials, former diplomats and academics sent a letter to Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, House Speaker Mike Johnson and Democratic Leader Hakeem Jeffries expressing “serious concerns” about Netanyahu’s visit.
“This visit puts his personal political survival above our shared interests. Netanyahu has lost the support of the Israeli people and is seeking to bolster his domestic coalition through a show of force in the United States,” the letter said. “He has yet to show any willingness to envision a post-war plan, and continues to destabilize the national security of both Israel and the United States,” the letter said.
During Biden’s press conference earlier this month, many pro-Israel activists expressed anger at the president’s response when asked about Israel’s war with Hamas.
“Biden used his press conference to turn the conflict between Israel and Hamas on its head. He said not a single word of condemnation of Hamas or its supporters, nor did he mention the dire conditions in which more than 100 hostages, including eight Americans, are being held by Hamas. Instead, he criticized Israel and pushed for a two-state solution that would destroy Israel,” David Friedman, who served as ambassador to Israel in the Trump administration, told Fox News Digital.
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President Biden met with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in New York on September 20, 2023. (AP Photo/Susan Walsh)
Former Israeli Brigadier General Amir Avibi told Fox News Digital, “President Biden will empower Hamas by failing to make clear that Hamas has launched brutal attacks in Israel, and that Israel has the right to defend itself and completely destroy Hamas. Israel’s very existence depends on a decisive victory in Gaza. Without a decisive victory, Israel will be in great danger on all fronts. We expect President Biden to cooperate fully with Israel. We cannot end the war without ensuring that a terrorist army never appears again in Gaza.” He noted that Israel needs U.S. support to defeat Hamas and secure the release of the hostages.
The State Department referred Fox News Digital to the National Security Council, which did not immediately respond to reporters’ inquiries.
