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Washington
cnn
—
President Joe Biden spoke by phone Monday with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. their first known interaction in more than a month as the gap between the two men about the war in Gaza.
During the call, the White House said the leaders discussed two key areas where tension has arisen in the relationship, iIncluding the need to get more humanitarian aid to Gaza and the pending Israeli operation in Rafah, where more than a million Palestinian civilians are taking refuge.
Biden’s national security adviser, Jake Sullivan, later told reporters that the president expressed “deep concerns” about Israel’s plans for the Rafah operation during his conversation with Netanyahu.
Biden asked Netanyahu to send a high-level delegation of military leaders to Washington to further discuss the issue and devise an alternative approach to pursuing Hamas in Rafah. Netanyahu agreed to send such a group, and Sullivan said the meeting would likely take place late this week or early next week.
“A military plan cannot succeed without an integrated humanitarian plan and political plan. And the president has repeatedly noted that continued military operations must be connected to a clear strategic endgame,” Sullivan said at the White House, noting that more civilians had died in Gaza than any previous conflict in the enclave and that “anarchy reigns.” in parts of the strip.
In a later statement, Netanyahu said he told Biden that Israel was committed to achieving its goals in Gaza while also providing necessary humanitarian aid to the enclave.
“We talked about the latest developments in the war, including Israel’s commitment to achieving all of the war’s objectives: the elimination of Hamas, the release of all our hostages, and the promise that Gaza will no longer pose a threat to Israel – while providing the necessary humanitarian aid that helps achieve these goals,” Netanyahu said, according to a readout from the Prime Minister’s Office.
Monday’s phone call came days after one of Biden’s top allies in Washington, Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, called for new Israeli elections that would result in Netanyahu’s ouster.
Biden called the speech “good” and said it reflected the concerns of many Americans, although he did not explicitly endorse or condemn calling new elections in Israel.
Netanyahu on Sunday strongly rejected Schumer’s speech during an interview with CNN’s Dana Bash.
“It is inappropriate to go to a sister democracy and try to replace the elected leaders there. That is something that Israel, the Israeli public does on its own, and we are not a banana republic,” Netanyahu said in “State of the Union.”
The Biden-Netanyahu relationship has worsened in recent months as frustration grows within the White House over what US officials view as Netanyahu’s rejection of US advice on the war in Gaza.
After speaking daily or weekly at the start of the conflict, Biden and Netanyahu now speak much less frequently. His last phone call before Monday was on February 15 – the longest break in calls since the October 7 terrorist attacks that started the current conflict.
Tensions have arisen over allowing more humanitarian aid into the strip, measures to protect civilian victims and the future of an eventual Palestinian state.
Netanyahu expressed concern about “a variety of things that have appeared in the American press” during the call, Sullivan said. On Monday, Sullivan declined to detail whether Netanyahu raised concerns about Schumer’s speech. But he said Biden did not focus on the politics of the conflict.
“From President Biden’s perspective, this is not a policy issue. These are not public statements. It is a question of policy and strategy. That’s what he’s focused on. That’s what he focused on during the call,” he said.
Still, Sullivan noted some irony in Netanyahu appearing on American television to complain about political interference.
“We have the prime minister speaking on American television about his concerns about American interference in Israeli politics,” Sullivan said. “And then his question is: Should Americans talk about Israeli politics, which, in fact, we don’t do as much as they talk about ours?”
The White House has said that an operation in Rafah should not be carried out without a credible plan to protect civilians sheltering there. As of Monday, officials said they had seen no such plan. Biden said in an interview last weekend that an invasion of Rafah would amount to a “red line,” although he did not outline how he would respond and said he would never completely cut off support for Israel.
Speaking to Netanyahu, Biden “explained why he is so deeply concerned about the prospect of Israel conducting major military operations in Rafah,” Sullivan said.
He said those concerns boiled down to three areas: that civilians sheltered in Rafah have nowhere safe to go; that Rafah is an entry point for critical humanitarian assistance; and that neighboring Egypt has expressed serious concerns about a possible military operation there.
“Our position is that Hamas should not be allowed to find a safe haven in Rafah or anywhere else. But a major ground operation there would be a mistake and would lead to more deaths of innocent civilians,” Sullivan said.
Sullivan described the call as “professional” and “did not end abruptly.”
“It ended in a totally normal way when everyone had overcome all their points,” Sullivan said, adding that the leaders “recognize that we are at a critical moment in this conflict.”
He said that Biden and Netanyahu “share a common goal which is for Israel to prevail over Hamas,” but that they “have a different perspective on this operation and Rafah, and they went into some detail about that and had the opportunity to elaborate on each of their at the top of their lungs, as they always do when President Biden and Prime Minister Netanyahu speak.”
“So in that sense, I would say this call was very similar to previous calls the two had had, each agreeing for the teams to meet and then agreeing that the two would stay in touch as we move forward. Go ahead,” he said.
Biden and Netanyahu also discussed negotiations for an immediate ceasefire for “several weeks” in exchange for the release of hostages held by Hamas and other militants in Gaza.
“We will seek to turn that ceasefire into something more lasting and use the space created by a cessation of hostilities to increase humanitarian assistance,” Sullivan said. “So far, the agreement has been more difficult to reach than we expected, but we will continue to press because we consider it an urgent priority.”
He stressed that Hamas could “end the crisis tomorrow” and called for more pressure on the group to end the conflict.
Sullivan said the two leaders had agreed to “remain in close contact” in the coming days and weeks and that the United States and Israel were in “daily contact about every element” of the crisis.
This story was updated with additional news on Monday.
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