Israeli Leader and US President Differ Over Support for Israel in Gaza War
Popular support for Israel in the US will help it fight until total victory over Hamas, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on Tuesday.
In a statement, Mr. Netanyahu cited polls showing that more than 80% of Americans support Israel during the conflict in Gaza.
His comments come after US President Joe Biden warned that Israel risks losing global support in the war if it keeps up with its incredibly conservative government on the war in Gaza.
But in his statement on Tuesday, Mr. Netanyahu said that, since the beginning of the conflict, he has been leading a campaign countering international pressure to end the war ahead of time and mobilize support for Israel.
Another poll, from the associated press and NORC, found that about half of us adults in January believed Israel had gone too far – up from 40% in November.
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The divergent goals are playing out this week as negotiators try to hammer out a hostage deal before the Muslim holy month of Ramadan begins next month.
Mr. Biden said on Monday that U.S.-brokered talks were close to an agreement and that he expected a cease-fire to begin by the end of this weekend.
But that depends on Mr. Netanyahu going along with a bargain with Hamas.
The relationship between the two men has been complicated these past four months.
While they hugged on an airport tarmac in Tel Aviv when Mr. Biden came to visit just days after the terrorist attack that killed 1,200, their telephone calls have grown increasingly edgy as they quarreled over the Israeli military operation that has claimed nearly 30,000 lives in Gaza.
At one point in December, the conversation grew so heated that Mr. Biden declared that he was done and hung up the phone, an episode previously reported by Axios.
In public, Mr. Biden has resisted a more open break, continuing to back Israel’s right to defend itself and still describing himself as a Zionist, as he did again on Monday, even as he complained that there are too many innocent people that are being killed.
