Biden Breaks Up With Bibi.
“The last time Joe Biden and Benjamin Netanyahu got into a public spat as ugly as this one was 14 years ago. In March 2010, Biden traveled to Jerusalem to push President Barack Obama’s ambitious peace plans on Netanyahu — the prime minister whom the then-vice president, upon landing, called his “close, personal friend of over 33 years.” Obama wanted a freeze on construction of Israeli settlements in the West Bank to avoid depriving the Palestinians of land for a future state as U.S. special envoy George Mitchell restarted Israeli-Palestinian negotiations. But upon Biden’s arrival, Netanyahu’s government suddenly announced the construction of 1,600 new Israeli apartments in the disputed territory. This humiliated and enraged Biden, who retaliated by keeping his close personal friend “Bibi” waiting for an hour and a half at dinner that night.
Biden publicly criticized Netanyahu for the move, but he also insisted that things be smoothed over, pressing Obama not to turn the contretemps into a major incident. The current dispute between the two men is very different.
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Benjamin Netanyahu and the War in Gaza are taking a toll on the cross ocean relationship between America and Israel. The war, which many saw coming, is now fully and inextricably entangled in politics of the 2024 election. Large Arab populations live in states that are must wins if Biden hopes to win the White House again, namely Michigan. The Arab electorate in that state and their elected Representatives in Congress have cooled tremendously on the Biden Administration thus complicating his path back to the White House. A quick and peaceful resolution is probably out of reach before the election.
