WASHINGTON
US President Joe Biden acknowledged Friday that he and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu need to have a reckoning concerning Tel Aviv’s ongoing refusal to allow more aid into the besieged Gaza Strip.
Biden was caught in a hot mic Thursday evening telling Democratic Sen. Michael Bennet that he and the premier needed to have a “come to Jesus meeting.”
The remarks were captured on camera as the president was exiting the Capitol after delivering the annual State of the Union address.
“I told him, Bibi, and don’t repeat this, I said, ‘You and I are going to have a come to Jesus meeting,'” Biden can be heard saying after Bennet pushed him to continue pressuring Israel on aid deliveries.
Asked Friday about the comments, Biden said he did not make them during his formal address.
“What about after?” a reporter asked. “You guys eavesdropping on things,” said Biden.
The remarks are the clearest indication of Biden’s mounting frustration with Israel’s leader as starvation continues to kill Palestinians in Gaza.
The US began to carry out humanitarian air drops last Saturday in response to the catastrophe, and Biden announced that the US would construct a temporary pier on Gaza’s shoreline to facilitate more deliveries
The president alluded to his frustration with Netanyahu during his annual address, saying Israel cannot use humanitarian aid deliveries as a “bargaining chip” in negotiations to secure a cease-fire in Gaza.
“To the leadership of Israel, I say this: Humanitarian assistance cannot be a secondary consideration or a bargaining chip. Protecting and saving innocent lives has to be a priority,” said Biden.
Israel has waged a retaliatory offensive on Gaza since a cross-border attack by Hamas on Oct. 7 that killed less than 1,200 people. The offensive has killed more than 30,800 victims and injured nearly 73,000 in Gaza amid mass destruction and acute shortages of necessities.
Israel has also imposed a crippling blockade on the Palestinian enclave, leaving its population, particularly residents of northern Gaza, on the verge of starvation.
About 85% of Gazans have been displaced by the Israeli onslaught amid acute shortages of food, clean water and medicine, while 60% of the enclave’s infrastructure has been damaged or destroyed, according to the UN.
Israel is accused of genocide at the International Court of Justice (ICJ). An interim ruling in January ordered Tel Aviv to stop genocidal acts and take measures to guarantee that humanitarian assistance is provided to civilians in Gaza.
Hostilities have continued to rage as Gaza’s death toll mounts. Aid deliveries remain woefully inadequate to cope with the coastal enclave’s humanitarian catastrophe.
A group of UN experts said Tuesday that Israel is flouting its responsibilities under the ICJ order.
“Israel systematically denies and restricts the entry of humanitarian aid into Gaza by intercepting deliveries at checkpoints, bombing humanitarian convoys and shooting at civilians seeking humanitarian assistance,” they said.
“Israel is not respecting its international legal obligations, is not complying with the provisional measures of the International Court of Justice, and is committing atrocity crimes,” the experts added.
