luck9 Biden Excoriated Netanyahu on Israel’s Conduct in the War, Woodward Book Says
President Biden has had a long and complicated relationship with Israel’s prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu — one that has taken an especially intense turn in the year since the Oct. 7 Hamas-led attacks, as documented in a new book by the journalist Bob Woodward.
The book, “War,” which is set to be released next week and relies on some anonymous sources, lays bare just how frustrated Mr. Biden has become with Mr. Netanyahu since the war in Gaza began and Israel has bombarded the enclave, killing more than 40,000 people and displacing most of the more than two million residents there.
Outwardly, Mr. Biden has voiced strong support for Israel, sometimes in the face of withering international criticism. He has said that Israel has a right to defend itself, although he has from time to time publicly expressed some of his frustration with Mr. Netanyahu. Privately, the president has reacted far more explosively, sometimes with expletives, to Israel’s moves, as multiple news reports have indicated.
Mr. Netanyahu and the president last spoke on Aug. 21, according to a White House statement.
Mr. Woodward’s book, obtained by The New York Times and other news outlets on Tuesday, adds additional, inside-the-room details to those previous accounts, including direct quotes from Mr. Biden speaking with his staff or with the prime minister.
In April, for instance, the president questioned Mr. Netanyahu’s conduct in the war in a phone call, asking, according to the book, “What’s your strategy, man?”
When Mr. Netanyahu insisted that the Israeli military needed to push deeper into southern Gaza and invade the southern city of Rafah, a key border crossing with Egypt, the president, using Mr. Netanyahu’s nickname, dismissed this response.
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