U.S. President Joe Biden and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu had a call on Wednesday amid tensions with Iran, while Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant promised an Israeli strike against Iran will be "lethal, precise and surprising."
The 30-minute call was the first known chat for Biden and Netanyahu since August and coincides with a sharp escalation of Israel's conflict with Iran and the Iran-backed Lebanese Hezbollah, but with no sign of an imminent ceasefire to end the conflict with Iran-backed Hamas in Gaza.
The call was "direct and very productive," White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre told reporters, while acknowledging the two leaders have disagreements and are open about them.
The Middle East has been on edge awaiting Israel's response to a missile attack last week that Tehran carried out in retaliation for Israel's military escalation in Lebanon. The Iranian attack ultimately killed no one in Israel.
After describing Iran's Oct 1 missile attack as a failure, Gallant said in a video issued by his office after the Biden-Netanyahu call had ended: "Whoever attacks us will be hurt and will pay a price. Our attack will be deadly, precise and above all surprising, they will not understand what happened and how it happened, they will see the results."
Netanyahu has promised that arch-foe Iran will pay for its missile attack, while Tehran has said any retaliation would be met with vast destruction, raising fears of a wider war in the oil-producing region which could draw in the United States.
The United States has said it supports Israel going after Iran-backed targets like Hezbollah and Hamas but has tried, unsuccessfully, to stem rising conflict, to broker a ceasefire in Gaza and to persuade Israel to curb rocket attacks on residential areas that have killed thousands of people.
Relations between Biden and Netanyahu have been tense, strained over the Israeli leader’s handling of the war in Gaza and the conflict with Hezbollah. Israel has said it will pursue its military operations until Israelis are safe.
In "War," a book out next week, journalist Bob Woodward reports that Biden regularly accused Netanyahu of having no strategy, and shouted "Bibi, what the fuck?" at him in July, after Israeli strikes near Beirut and in Iran.
Asked about the book, one U.S. official familiar with the two leaders' past interactions said Biden has used sharp, direct, unfiltered and colorful language both with and about Netanyahu while in office.
Wednesday's call was "a positive call, and we appreciate the support of the U.S.," Israel's U.N. Ambassador Danny Danon told reporters.
"And as we stated earlier, Israel will retaliate for the attack ... We will choose the locations. It will be painful for the Iranian regime," Danon said.
Gallant canceled a Wednesday visit to the Pentagon, the Pentagon said. Gallant said in a statement he had postponed the visit at Netanyahu's request until after the prime minister spoke with Biden.
Tensions have increased in recent weeks as U.S. officials were repeatedly blindsided by Israeli actions, according to a person familiar with the matter. These included Israel's killing of Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah and the detonation of pagers and walkie-talkies used by Hezbollah members in Lebanon that Israel has neither confirmed nor denied carrying out.
Israel has also been slow to share details of its planning for retaliation against Iran's ballistic missile attack, the person said.
Biden said last Friday he would think about alternatives to striking Iranian oil fields if he were in Israel's shoes, adding he thought Israel had not concluded how to respond to Iran. Last week, he also said he would not support Israel striking Iranian nuclear sites.
Biden has been hit by sharp criticism from international partners as well as members of his own Democratic Party over his inability to use leverage, including the U.S. role as Israel’s chief arms supplier, to curb Netanyahu's attacks.
By extension, Kamala Harris, Biden's vice president and the Democrats' presidential candidate in the Nov. 5 election, has been challenged to defend the administration's policy on the campaign trail. Harris joined the call with Biden and Netanyahu, according to a person familiar with the matter.
Some Arab American voters in Michigan are backing independent candidate Jill Stein, a move that could cost Harris the battleground state and perhaps the White House in a race with Republican former President Donald Trump that opinion polls show to be very tight.
Harris is trailing Trump in Michigan with 47% of voters to his 50%, new Quinnipiac University polling showed on Wednesday. In a Sept. 18 poll, Harris held 50% of the vote and Trump 45%.
Israel and Netanyahu in particular have faced widespread condemnation over the nearly 42,000 Palestinians killed in the Gaza war, according to the Palestinian health ministry in Hamas-ruled Gaza, and the deaths of over 2,000 people in Lebanon.
Israel says it is defending itself after Hamas militants attacked southern Israel on Oct 7, 2023, killing 1,200 people and taking 250 hostages, according to Israeli tallies, and from attacks by other militants including Hezbollah who support Hamas.
© Thomson Reuters 2024.
26 Comments
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Sanjinosebleed
Simple.. stop supplying the war criminals in Israel with weapons and put the lunatic Netanyahu in jail! He is using the upcoming US election as a bargaining chip and driving the world to ww3 ! He needs to be stopped now!
Banthu
Israel's unprovoked, full-scale invasion of their peaceful neighbor Lebanon has to stop.
Netenyahu calls it a "military operation", but it's a full-scale unprovoked invasion of a neighboring country that is just a colonial land grab.
Alfie Noakes
It seems likely that WW3 will be the genocidal, supremacist states of Israel and the US against the rest of the world. Hopefully Nazism will be finally defeated once and for all.
Gaijinjland
Obama was the only president who, in perspective, took a hardline on Israel and made his personal dislike of Netanyahu known. It’s impossible not to have antisemitism in the world when everyone equates the Jewish faith to Israel!
fallaffel
Agreed! And you must also surely agree that Russia's colonial land grab must stop.
Aly Rustom
The call was "direct and very productive,"
Sure it was.
Bibi: Yo Beach! Where's my money and gat??
Biden: Sorry suh. Iz a good Zionist. It comin suh.
Aly Rustom
exactly
Chabbawanga
Why promise lethal retaliation when the Iranian attack targetted military and infrastructure sites. Israel just loves bloodshed.
Mickelicious
“Israel started Hamas. It was a project of Shin Bet.”
– Charles Freeman, US diplomat and ambassador (2006)
“I helped finance the Palestinian Islamist movement [Hamas]"
– Brig. Gen. Yitzhak Segev, Israeli military governor in Gaza
“Anyone who wants to thwart the establishment of a Palestinian state has to support bolstering Hamas and transferring money to Hamas.”
– Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netahyahu at Likud party meeting (2019)
“In the visible dimension Hamas is an enemy, in the hidden dimension it is an ally.”
– IDF Major General Gershon Hacohen (2019)
“The Palestinian Authority is a burden, and Hamas is an asset.”
Bezalel Smotrich“Hamas, to my great regret, is Israel’s creation.”
Avner Cohen, a former Israeli religious affairs officialChabbawanga
So long as we do away with the ludicrous double standards
Ken
I agree, I don't know why most politicians are afraid to tell this man he is on the same boat as dictators and Nazis right now
Ricky Kaminski13
Hold on power that was supposed to read! Coffee time. Enjoy this beautiful autumn day and be thankful of the relative peace we have here in Japan. Something to be said for a non-politically charged nation ne!
Desert Tortoise
Eh, George H.W. Bush cut Israeli loan guarantees off until Israel stopped building settlements in the West Bank and Gaza and entered into negotiations with the Palestinians in what would become known as the Madrid Peace Conference.. Both George H.W. Bush and his Secretary of State James Baker were sick of the arrogance of Yitzhak Shamir poking his hand out demanding US tax money while flipping us off with the other. That move probably cost President Bush a second term because AIPAC went hermatile and fought his candidacy.
GDBD
So the the Israeli leadership will keep increasing the violence while having the US and the west backing them. Demonyahu is sacrificing the entire Jews just to extend his rule another couple years. I say the democracy is working really well for the Israel and Jews. At this point Hamas and Hezbollah don't even need to fight anymore.
Israel will keep this instigation until the day they are crushed by a big power again. According to ChatGPT, if we count significant, well-documented expulsions of Jews from entire countries or major regions, the number is estimated to be around 80 to 100.
This includes major historical events such as the expulsions from England (1290), France (multiple times), Spain (1492), Portugal (1497), and various parts of Central and Eastern Europe over centuries.
So the current turmoil is not even about Palestinians anymore, but about the Jews. They are repeating what they have perfected over 2 millennium.
Desert Tortoise
The last US President to go toe to toe with an Israeli government, George H.W. Bush lost re-election.
Unfortunately you have a lot of evangelical Americans including majorities in both houses of Congress who sincerely believe that an aggressive and hegemonic Israel has to start that final great war Armageddon to bring the second coming of christ and their salvation. That religious believe over rides any other consideration.
Wasabi
unprovoked: are you forgetting all the missiles they sent ?
full-scale: is it?
peaceful neighbor: Are you peaceful neighbour full of terrorist sending you uncontrolled missiles ?
RichardPearce
Netanyahu might be surprised by the reaction to his deciding to attack Iran for the THIRD time.
Mistaking a reluctance to fight for an inability to, or cowardice, is what's tripped up many a bully, and many a war monger.
Blacklabel
Wonder what Bibi had to say about all the vulgarities Biden called him behind his back?
Yrral
I do know why Japanese ever discuss issues they have no knowledge of ,which is little very outside Japan, even a foreigner that never been to Japan could dominate them ,the big story tonight is the hurricane that it Florida
RichardPearce
So, let's see, if Netanyahu targets Iran's IAEA multiply scrutinized nuclear isotopes and energy program, Iran has made it clear it will target Netanyahu's uninspected nuclear weapons program.
If Netanyahu targets one or more of Iran's ports, Iran targets Netanyahu's, and he needs those for Biden to send his gifts of weapons to.
If Netanyahu targets Iran's electrical power plants, Iran has somethings that Netanyahu doesn't, an internationally connected power grid, a domestic solar and wind farm industry, a military used to repairing or replacing damaged and destroyed infrastructure, an industrial base used to manufacturing excess of everything needed to do that repairing/replacement, plus the ability to hit Netanyahu's electrical power plants.
itsonlyrocknroll
Never has a global community had to witness an event remotely comparable to the 7th October atrocity.
A 21st century 24/7 social broadcast media, able to bring such brutality into every facet of humanity.
The carnage in high definition 4k clarity widescreen.
President Biden for whatever reason, failing health, political misjudgement, haplessness, was and continues to be stepped over or ignored by a ruthless Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu/Defense Minister Yoav Gallant.
Both insist Iran must be held accountable,
How "lethal, precise and surprising." is implemented, could ultimately bring the full might of US vast military prowess/capabilities into full focus within the middle east region, never experienced in our lifetimes.
Iran/Hamas/Hezbollah believed this threat action could never happen.
Allah be praised Iran capitulates, finds a diplomatic means to save themselves from a very ugly confrontation.
Attilathehungry
Iran is the center of the terror network that keeps the entire Middle East region from having peace. It only makes sense for Israel to emasculate them. Then perhaps the people of Iran could have the government they deserve, not the malign rule of the 7th century head hackers.
Gahan
Never forget that this conflict is the result of Iran-backed terrorists like Hamas and Hezbollah launching a violent and unprovoked attack against civilians. They have brought this upon themselves. Release the hostages.
kurisupisu
If Iran is attacked by Israel then the Iranians should surely attack the nuclear facilities that Israel possesses.
However, large amounts of radiation circulating in and around Israel will surely cause the Jewish diaspora to commence once again.
bass4funk
Israel can’t give up or give in, not an option.
wallace
The killing fields will continue until both sides can agree on peace and live alongside each other sharing the land.