US president’s remarks to Time magazine about PM’s role in conflict draw heavily critical response from Israeli government
Joe Biden has said that there is “every reason” to draw the conclusion that Benjamin Netanyahu is prolonging the war in Gaza for his own political self-preservation.
Biden made the remarks about the Israeli prime minister in an interview with Time magazine published on Tuesday morning, drawing a sharp response from the Israeli government, which accused the US president of straying from diplomatic norms.
Netanyahu’s popularity plummeted after the 7 October attack by Hamas, which exposed serious flaws in Israeli security. Most political observers say Netanyahu would lose elections if they were held now, and would be forced into opposition, facing court hearings on corruption charges. But elections have been put off until the war is over, or at least until major military operations are deemed to have been completed.
Time asked Biden whether he believed Netanyahu was “prolonging the war for his own political self-preservation”.
“I’m not going to comment on that,” the president said in response, but added: “There is every reason for people to draw that conclusion.”
So we’re going to stop supplying Israel with weapons, money, and international cover, right? RIGHT?
No, Congress is going after the ICC for daring to investigate Israeli leaders for War Crimes
Good thing Congress can’t do shit about it short of repealing the Leahy Law with a veto proof majority.
Now what would be comical (not actually comical) is to see Congress declare war for the first time since world war 2. They can do so without the presidents approval I believe, and can fund it against the presidents wishes. Now… The president can just tell the troops not to go to war though, showing how broken that system is.
No war, the president can send troops. War, the president can not send troops.
So the other representatives don’t matter to awfully much when it comes to starting wars. Now ending them on the other hand … Congress holds that with the funding part.Well not really @ last part bc the president can declare an emergency for ~any reason and appropriate funds. Yaaay demoncracy
Generally, us presidents fall into the do whatever they want, “move fast and break shit” philosophy. And as the world’s arms dealers, the USA has every reason to be involved in every conflict. That’s our greatest national industry
Emergencies can only exist for 6 months and then have to be voted for termination by Congress. So say Prump pulled a Trutin, if the rest of the house/Senate weren’t bought and paid for that war would be over “years” ago now and congress could impeach the president if he tried to act like it was another emergency, followed by the Senate voting to oust them.
All the mechanisms are there, tainted and charred.
We need an age of restoration to clean it all off and update everything to fit with modern times.
““Jefferson states that each new generation has a right to choose for itself “the form of government it believes most promotive of its own happiness.” That every 20 years, the state constitution should be handed off to the next generation to amend and repair as they see fit””
So a bit controversial but I’d say that would point at older generations not supposed to be holding legislational positions/powers. If we up the age to fit lifespan from 20 to 30 years, then take the average age of the writers/powers at be during that time it would place a retirement age for legislative members at maybe 60-65.
Being that our supreme Court is somehow altering legislation at this point that would say 4 or 5 out of those 9 would have to retire immediately. The average age of senators is 64, so ~50 there, and a significant chunk of Congress.
Get out the steel woal and start cleaning the rust of this jalopy.
Cool info, thanks
Yeah it’s not a great system and the war powers act was only ever a band aid.
Leahy Law only works if the State Department provides proof of human rights violations. Findings from the ICC or ICJ only matter if they are corroborated in US intelligence. Biden needs to mandate a conclusive reassessment from the State Department to disregard congressional direction.
So as far as I know, we don’t need the State Department to acknowledge it. The laws bind State and Defense from sending stuff but that information can come from anywhere. They can stop based on their internal assessment or the President can stop them based on reports from the intelligence community or the ICC.
Without support of US intelligence or recorded first-hand accounts, he has no defense in an impeachment hearing for taking actions against the advisement of Congress and the State Department. He needs the support of one branch to make a move like this, or he’ll face impeachment by Republicans in Congress.
He oversees the State Department as they’re part of the Executive Branch. He can mandate reassessment due to new information such as the recent “accidents” by Israel, or disclosure of suppressed information by former employees. It’s his best option other than direct oversight with a ceasefire agreement.
Well good thing he has those. And the ICC assessments would work too. Which he also has.
You think state department returned that finding without asking him first? People are literally quitting that working group and telling the news. This isn’t a deep state thing.
Biden can shut off the aid any time he wants.
For a bonus round - how about we see some “strategic voting” by our representatives and Senators? Why are we coddling them? A successful impeachment would basically ensure a Trump victory, and anything less isn’t paid attention because the Republicans cried wolf too many times. So why are we worried about this again?
ICC statements are not recognized in the US unless included in State Department intelligence reports. POTUS cannot justify action based on them, nor can he use them as defense in an impeachment hearing.
Again, while he can amend existing agreements whenever he wants, he will have no legal defense for his actions against advisement and legislation of the rest of our government.
Biden: “We don’t have the authority to stop Israel, our hands are tied.”
Also Biden: “We’re going to invade the Hague if you so much as think about sanctioning this perfectly legal and justified military action.”
Biden needs to mandate a conclusive reassessment form the State Department so what Congress says doesn’t matter.
You should just say republicans.
There arent any democrats doing that.
42 Democrats voted with Republicans.
Yes, for Ukraine, Israel, and Taiwan aid.
Ukraine needed it more than Israel didn’t.
That was after Republicans tried to pass aid for Israel independent of Ukraine and Taiwan.
Just because the news is focused on Israel doesn’t mean the genocide in Ukraine has ended. Russia has abducted over 700,000 children since the beginning of the war. Putin is loving the media redirection while he continues his atrocities.
https://www.rferl.org/a/russia-children-taken-ukraine/32527298.html
The US still needs Israel as an ally in the region. While Bibi may be a genocidal POS, Israel itself is crucial to US foreign policy. Expect weapons to keep flowing.
congress decides that not biden…
If only he were in some kind of position of power to do something about it.
you know he’s a) not prime minister of israel b) not in charge of israel’s military and c) not in congress, which apportions funds, right?
Yeah…as commander and chief of the US armed forces he’s completely powerless in stopping the flow of US weapons to Israel.
Just imagine an American president invoking the AUMF to do something good for once.
You know that Biden can (and should) invoke Leahy law against israel which blocks the export of all weapons to a country committing war crimes, right?
He certainly is the President of the country sending weapons to Israel with multiple laws expressly forbidding him from sending weapons to a genocidal regime. (Leahy Law and Foreign Service Act)
The FSA actually says they can’t send any assistance to a government that, (among other things), engages in prolonged detention without charges. Something Israel has done for decades.
We have the laws. We just need the Moral Fiber to fucking use them.
He’s bypassed congress multiple times to approve weapon shipments to Israel btw. Just a cool little fun fact.
Uwu joes just a widdle pwesident wearing a diaper held on with a giant safety pin, he can’t do anything to stop the genocide…
You’re not supposed to say the quiet part out loud! -Isreal
He literally didn’t even say it, he just admitted that there are reasons for other people to think it. This headline wants him to have said something much stronger than he actually did, and even then Israel is throwing a hissy fit over anything short of full-throated support.
Yup.
Yeah, not trying to argue, just pointing out how it’s even worse. It’s so easy to accept a false premise when someone states it up front like this headline does.
And Biden is prolonging it for political loss lol
The US president doesn’t control the world, contrary to popular American opinion.
You don’t think the military support, and the diplomatic cover for Israel that the US provides at the UN (100% within Biden’s prerogative) has any influence on the situation?
Well, we really should be thanking Reagan for that if you want to get specific.
The US ambassador to the UN serves at Reagan’s pleasure??
✈️
Is that your flight to Denial City?
Tell me why Regan is relevant.
The US president is literally going around his own Congress to ensure the Israelis are always well stocked with weapons during their genocide.
Yah, those Republicans have just kept trying to shut down weapons sales to Israel at every turn, eh?
Not true
UN veto power goes a long way.
If he stopped supplying weapons, the war would stop as Israel wouldn’t have the resources to continue the war on its own.
The US is not the only country who sells weapons to Israel. And, Israel manufactures weapons too. Having fewer super-cool missiles isn’t going to stop them from using the huge stockpile they already have.
What a ridiculous American concept that everything revolves around you.
If they don’t even need them, why do we give them any?
Because the military industrial complex is the ruler of the world and our elected leaders are just for show?
Can’t argue with that!
You can easily look this up. But of course you’re not arguing in good faith.
Oh I see now… Biden is “striking a difficult balance” between his support for genocide, and his public image of not enjoying it.
You completely diregarded the article. Not that I expected you to read it. You asked why and here’s the answer.
Legally, the U.S. can’t cut Israel off completely. Since 2008, the U.S. has had to weigh all arms sales to Israel and other countries in the region against the requirement that Israel maintains a “qualitative military edge” against all enemies, both state and non-state actors.
The Biden administration in late April decided to pause a shipment of 3,500 “dumb” — aka, unguided — munitions that officials expected Israel to use in Rafah: 1,800 of those were 2,000-pound bombs and 1,700 of those were 500-pound bombs. U.S. officials were particularly concerned about the 2,000-pound bombs and the impact the massive weapon would have in a dense urban setting.
In announcing the pause, Biden for the first time acknowledged that civilians had been killed by these weapons in Gaza.
“Civilians have been killed in Gaza as a consequence of those bombs and other ways in which they go after population centers,” Biden said on CNN, referring to 2,000-pound bomb. “I’ve made it clear to Bibi and the war cabinet: They’re not going to get our support, if in fact they go on these population centers.”
The bombs were approved by Congress in 2021. They had been licensed by the administration, manufactured, and ready to be shipped when the order came down to pause the movement.
It’s mostly them, though, with a bit of contribution from Germany.
I’m not actually sure if being cut off hard would stop them, what with Netanyahu’s personal freedom in the mix, but it would hurt a lot.
Nope. The German government stopped issuing weapon export licenses within days. Some stuff arrived that needed licenses but is completely useless in a genocide (training ammunition, artillery charges (not rounds but the propellant part) going to industry for testing), the rest is almost certainly useless in a genocide: 5000 Panzerfaust 2. Kind of hard to deny them that export as they happen to own the producer and Hamas, last I checked, doesn’t even have tanks and as they’re shaped charges they really only are sensible to use against hard targets.
We still do export plenty of dual-use and non-weapon military equipment, though, those have lower export requirements. Helmets, replacement parts for radars, suchlike.
So just the US then, haha.
Italy also gave them a few helicopters, which amounted to a percent of the total value or so, but everyone else gave pretty much purely symbolic aid before this kicked off. Germany and the US were the whole pie chart.
It would do nothing.
Bold take. Do you know something I don’t? Please explain if so.
I don’t know what you know. But since you lead with “bold take,” I’m going to pass. You’re not interested. You just want a fight.
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But Biden, The American President, could at the very least abide by American Laws in regards to aid. Isreal has been in violation of the FSA for decades and this genocide breached the Leahy Law months ago.
Which American laws are you referring to?
FSA and Leahy Law.
Biden cannot unilaterally stop providing aid to Israel without Congress. The allocation of foreign aid, including military assistance to Israel, is governed by laws and appropriations passed by Congress.
Please don’t misinterpret my lack of finger pointing to be support for Israel. Biden certainly could take a more outspoken position.
Both of those laws are in fact laws. Things that can only be passed by Congress and the President working together. If Congress does not repeal them then the President is still bound by them. The current Congress can appropriate as much money as it wants for a genocidal regime. According to the FSA and Leahy Law it should sit right in that bank account and never get sent to the genocidal regime.
Biden has all the legal cover he needs.
I’m not sure it’s that easy… but I do agree a lot more could be done. If even just a “temporary suspension” until further investigation.
Of course not. The aliens do!
Full quote:
Time asked Biden whether he believed Netanyahu was “prolonging the war for his own political self-preservation”.
“I’m not going to comment on that,” the president said in response, but added: “There is every reason for people to draw that conclusion.”
But he still won’t even fucking say it…
And people are already trying to frame this as him being “tough” on Israel.
No matter what happens, no matter what atrocities they commit, Biden will always be loyal to Israel over all else.
Which should be immediately disqualifying for president of America, for reasons that should be obvious by now.
“There’s every reason for people to believe X, but I’m not going to comment on it” is commenting on it. If your friend said “there’s every reason to believe GSF murdered a hobo for fun, but I’m not going to comment on it”, you’re not going to thank them for not commenting on it.
Biden has been WAAAAAY too deferential to Israel, and this is kind of a weak ass way to say it, but it was definitely said.
But he still won’t even fucking say it…
He just did. In diplomatic terms, he screamed it to the heavens.
International messaging isn’t played at the level of you and I shooting the shit between ourselves. Netanyahu likely shit himself in rage and fear over this.
Bruh, there have been other presidents…
And they all said much worse, much earlier when Israel pulled their shit.
Stop pretending this means anythingnwhilenBiden is still lying and saying there’s no genocide while.providing munitions.
For fucks sake, it’s worse if Biden actually knows what’s going on and this is all he’s doing.
It surely means something, when this was said by the American President and it definitely means more than what other countries said.
America is THE Ally for Israel.
Just like Germany, America can’t just drop Support for Israel. It’s the first time, one of the 2 “never turn by back to Israel” supporters made such a remark.
Other countries saying something is like other kids in school talking about you.
USA or Germany saying something is like Mom or Dad coming into your room and saying it to your face.
I’m sorry that wasn’t clear
I meant other presidents of America.
Who were all able to pull Israel back.
When Obama did it, Biden publicly called him out
Biden recounted in private that when he was vice president in 2014 and Israel mounted a military assault on Gaza, Obama and his staff rejected his belief, held for decades, that the best way to approach the Israelis is to hug them close but not criticize them, the people familiar with his comments said.
Instead, they said Biden has noted, Obama publicly admonished Israel’s actions and voiced concern for Palestinian civilian deaths early into the 2014 conflict. As a result, Biden has argued, Obama squandered any ability to influence the Israeli government as it invaded Gaza, said the people familiar with his comments.
They said Biden’s message when he revisited the 2014 debate was: I was right then, and I am right now.
The reason it’s gone this far, is Israel knows Biden will never stop supporting them. They can do whatever they want.
Consider my comment moot to your point.
I see what you meant now and these are all facts that i agree overall.
There are also European elections coming up. Together with the presidential election, the results will influence the 2 wars we have going on.
But I’m afraid, the only choices are:
-
Everything continues like it is now
-
Everything will get much worse
& I feel like we are straying far away from:
- Make things better, for everyone
Yep.
And the worst part about is “make things better, for everyone” not being picked, is that would make it a lot easier to avoid “everything will get much worse”.
Say what you want about Bill and Obama’s actions while in office, but they were charismatic as hell and ran progressive campaigns. Campaigns that easily got them into and kept them in the White House.
Yet for some reason when Trump showed up, we have to start running candidates like Hillary and Biden?
There’s no rational reason behind it, if the only thing that matters is beating trump, we should give the voters what they want.
We need to run candidates who are similar to Bill and Obama, not people that just used to stand next to them a lot like their wife or VP. Charisma doesn’t just rub off on people like that.
So your solution is to just find someone that’s charismatic as hell? That’s what you’re putting up as the best option for president of the United States?
Genocide? Genny who? This guy’s charismatic as hell, I didn’t care what he does!
You’re handlers really need to feed you a more coherent narrative.
-
Biden essentially just told the world the US has no faith in Netanyahu leadership, which is essentially telling the Likkud to disband and form a new coalition government.
I get that you guys are demanding he use a word that the ICC has refused to use, but he is laying the groundwork yo accomplish an end to this but it doesn’t fit your narrative.
Biden essentially just told the world the US has no faith in Netanyahu leadership
I suggest you read the actual interview, although it’s hard to understand what Biden says before the media trims it into sound bites.
Interviewer: Not at all. Some in Israel have suggested that Netanyahu is prolonging the war for his own political self-preservation. Do you believe that?
Biden: I’m not going to comment on that. There is every reason for people to draw that conclusion. And I would cite tha as—before the war began, the blowback he was getting from the Israeli military for wanting to change the constitu—change the court. And so it’s an internal domestic debate that seems to have no consequence. And whether he would change his position or not, it’s hard to say, but it has not been helpful.
https://time.com/6984968/joe-biden-transcript-2024-interview/
He also blames Hamas that there’s no ceasefire:
And whose fault is it that the that deal, the ceasefire for hostages has not been consummated? Is it Hamas or Israel or both?
Biden: Hamas. Hamas could end this tomorrow. Hamas could say (unintelligible) and done period. And, but, and the last offer Israel made was very generous in terms of who they’d be willing to release, what they’d give in return, et cetera. Bibi is under enormous pressure on the hostages, on the hostages, and so he’s prepared to do about anything to get the hostages back.
And denying their genocide:
More broadly, from the intelligence in the evidence you’ve seen, either currently or in the last months, have Israeli forces committed war crimes in Gaza?
Biden: The answer is it’s uncertain and has been investigated by the Israelis themselves. The ICC is something that we don’t, we don’t recognize. But one thing is certain, the people in Gaza, the Palestinians have suffered greatly, for lack of food, water, medicine, etc. And a lot of innocent people have been killed. But it is—and a lot of it has to do not just with Israelis, but what Hamas is doing in Israel as we speak. Hamas is intimidating that population. I went over right after that attack on the Israelis. What they did was—exceeded anything I’ve ever seen. And I’ve seen a lot. Tying mothers and daughters together with rope and pouring kerosene on it and burning them to death. That kind of thing, attempting to intimidate. And it is dastardly.
Important note: Biden just keep repeating things that he claimed ms Hamas did, but there’s no evidence besides Israel saying “trust me bro” yet he constantly excuses Israel’s human rights abuses.
Don’t just read the small sound bites and fill in the gaps with what you hope it meant.
That’s what trumpets do.
Somehow this is just as incoherent as Trump transcriptions
What is taken out of context when he says that people have every reason to believe Netanyahu is prolonging the war, and then goes on yo say Netanyahu is unhelpful and that he no longer cares whether Netanyahu can change his mind?
He is clearly telling the Likkud to call an election.
Or are you taking offense at the idea that Hamas is responsible for this war? They are.
What is taken out of context when he says that people have every reason to believe Netanyahu is prolonging the war, and then goes on yo say Netanyahu is unhelpful and that he no longer cares whether Netanyahu can change his mind?
The full context is the link, but your summary of even just the quoted parts is way off…
And I’m not sure where any of the rest of what you’re saying is coming from either.
I don’t think you trying to clarify is going to help though.
I think a lot of people don’t understand the implications of saying it’s genocide out loud.
Since 1988 (when the US officially joined the Convention on Genocide), if the US officially says genocide is occurring, it’s supposed to directly intervene. Several states are immune from the convention, including the US, but not Israel.
It puts the US in a delicate position. Cutting off all support to such a major ally basically requires saying they’re committing genocide, which commits us to war.
There’s a lot of people that are opposed to what’s happening in Gaza, but don’t want to get in a shooting war with Israel over it.
Okay, but the US isn’t bound by the ICC, and the ICC went with articles 7 and 8 against Netanyahu, not article 6.
Bidens gaslighting game so weak newspapers have to do it for him.
Thank you, saved me time and hope. I’m going to go have some whiskey.
This is why I cheered when Biden pushed for a truce the past week, even though I’ve been really critical of Biden and that move didn’t guarantee peace: because it locked the US administration into a dichotomy where they would either have to keep pushing to stop the war, or they’d look like tremendous hypocrites when Israel rejected the deal and the US continued supporting them. It’s going to be quite difficult for Biden to do anything other than opposing Netanyahu until he agrees to attend the peace talks, or is ousted.
Oh this is like the third time he’s tried to take a premature victory lap on a peace deal. They just don’t care about looking like hypocrites. Even when Hamas is the one saying yes and Israel refuses they just blame Hamas and go on to the next news cycle like nothing happened.
“I’m not going to comment on that, except right now, with this comment”
classic bidenism
He didn’t really say anything other than “some people might have reason to think so”.
Which is the world’s most condescending way to say he doesn’t think so but like a kid on the playground isn’t going to tell us why.
I’m curious how the sentence “There is every reason for people to believe that” gets translated to “sure, you can think that if you want [to be wrong].”
It reads more like, “I can’t say whether it’s ‘1 plus 3’ or ‘2 plus 2’ but everybody is getting 4.” The evidence is all there.
It’s how he said it in the interview. First he says he can’t comment. Then he sighs and lets that line loose. It’s entirely calculated to make you think there’s some secret intelligence behind it.
And he walked out back anyways because even that was too much for piss baby Netanyahu.
Later on Tuesday, Biden appeared to tone down his criticism of Netanyahu. Asked whether Netanyahu was “playing politics with the war”, Biden said: “I don’t think so. He’s trying to work out a serious problem he has.”
Every time he starts to give something halfway close to a good response to something insane happening in Gaza, he walks it back within days.
Probably got a strong finger wagging from Israel.
almost as if he’s a world leader and doesn’t want to get into an international crisis with a nuclear power who is bombing palestine. who’d have thought that he was actually smarter at geopolitics than some random person on social media.
Oh hi again. Look up “Render Safe” in Military usage. It’s also a general EOD term but buried in there, (the military doesn’t like to advertise it but it’s existence isn’t classified), is a mission to track, and destroy or capture the entire nuclear arsenal of a target country. If Israel decides to play fuck fuck games the US military is ready and willing to give them the Find Out portion.
which accused the US president of straying from diplomatic norms.
Not “it’s not true”, just that it’s not polite to say.
A US President straying from diplomatic norms? How could that happen? 😱
Biden SLAMS Israeli leader that is openly hoping Biden will be displaced by Donald Trump.
Fuxed that for you all. He SLAMMED him. SLAM!
Poetry slam, but no actions slam
He got SLAMMED!!1!
Maybe stop sending him weapons then.
This is supposed to be the 2nd and final Nakba, annexing the entire Palestinian territory. With the goal of expanding Israel into Greater Israel. This goal will never end until the elimination and illegalization of Zionism. It doesn’t matter what the U.S. politicians say. BDS is the only first step.
Elimination and illegalization of Zionism? I’m not a Zionist by any stretch, but this is terrible thinking. You’re gonna kill and arrest people for ideas in their head? My god, no thanks.
Just like Nazism? Yeah, no thanks, right? derp.
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I’m not an ecologist, but isn’t destroying Gaza worse for the environment than rebuilding it?
Biden pretending to care.
Like a husband who hits a wife again and again and always say “next time I’ll be better, believe me”.
And then he hits again
Fool me once, shame on you. Fool me twice, shame on me
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