WASHINGTON >> President Joe Biden had terse words for Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Friday, and said he didn’t know whether the Israeli leader was holding up a Mideast peace deal in order to influence the outcome of the 2024 U.S. presidential election.
“No administration has helped Israel more than I have. None. None. None. And I think Bibi should remember that,” he said, referring to the Israeli leader by his nickname. “And whether he’s trying to influence the election, I don’t know, but I’m not counting on that.”
Biden, in a rare appearance in the White House press briefing room, was responding to comments made by one of his allies, Sen. Chris Murphy, D-Conn., who told CNN this week that he was concerned Netanyahu had little interest in a peace deal in part because of U.S. politics.
“I don’t think you have to be a hopeless cynic to read some of Israel’s actions, some of Prime Minister Netanyahu’s actions, as connected to the American election,” Murphy said.
Biden and Netanyahu have long managed a complicated relationship, but they’re running out of space to maneuver as their views on the Gaza war diverge and their political futures hang in the balance.
For Biden, a diplomatic deal would help resolve a deep divide among Democrats over the war and shore up support for Vice President Kamala Harris, making one fewer global conflict for her to manage should she win next month. Netanyahu has his own political concerns closer to home: His far-right coalition would abandon him if he stopped the war, and he could lose power and have to face his own legal problems. And Israel has been decimating Hezbollah’s leadership, so there is little incentive to stop now.
Biden has long pushed for a diplomatic deal, and he and his aides have indicated several times over the past few months that such an agreement was close. But it never seems to materialize, and in some cases, Netanyahu has publicly resisted the prospect while U.S. and Israeli officials continue to talk in private about eking out a deal.
Just last week, the U.S., France and other allies jointly called for an immediate 21-day Israel-Hezbollah cease-fire, and expected Israel to welcome if not fully endorse the plan. Instead, Netanyahu publicly rejected it, telling leaders gathered for the U.N. General Assembly that Israel would “continue degrading Hezbollah until all our objectives are met.”
Israel has pressed forward on two fronts, killing top Hezbollah leaders and pursuing a ground incursion into Lebanon and conducting strikes in Gaza that killed dozens, including children. And the nation has vowed to retaliate for Iran’s ballistic missile attack this week.
Oil prices rose 5% Thursday as concerns mounted that Israel would hit Iranian oil facilities as payback; a surge in gas prices so close to the election would be a blow to Harris, particularly after strong economic news Friday.
Biden said there had been no decision yet on what type of response there would be toward Iran, though “I think if I were in their shoes, I’d be thinking about other alternatives than striking oil fields.”
He pushed back against the idea that he was seeking a meeting with Netanyahu to discuss the response to Iran. He isn’t, he said.
“I’m assuming when they make a decision on how they’re going to respond, we will then have a discussion,” he said.
But Netanyahu has grown increasingly resistant to Biden’s public charm offensives and private pleading, prompting the president’s more assertive pushback. And Biden has in turn publicly held up delivery of heavy bombs to Israel and increasingly voiced concerns over an all-out war in the Middle East.
Meanwhile, after 1,080 days as president, Joe Biden on Friday decided to pop in and take questions in the White House briefing room for the first time.
The president has been less available than his recent predecessors to questions from White House press corps, making his surprise appearance welcome to the gathered reporters who waited as his press secretary’s daily briefing was moved up 15 minutes, then delayed for nearly one hour.
The president stepped through the press room’s blue door in a dark gray suit and red tie and proceeded to make news in response to questions about comments on the 2024 presidential election, the latest jobs numbers and the escalating conflict in the Middle East.
The 81-year old stepped aside from the Democratic nomination this summer, backing Vice President Kamala Harris instead. He acknowledged doubts about whether the November election would be peaceful, given comments by former President Donald Trump that the results could be rigged.
“I’m confident it will be free and fair. I don’t know whether it will be peaceful,” Biden said. “The things that Trump has said, and the things that he said last time when he didn’t like the outcome of the election, were very dangerous.”
Biden has tried to rebut a political movement that has at times openly trafficked in conspiracy theories, with the latest revolving around the government reporting Friday that employers added 254,000 jobs last month and the unemployment rate ticked down to 4.1%.
“Another fake jobs report out from Biden-Harris government today,” Sen. Marco Rubio, R-Fla., posted on social media. “But all the fake numbers in the world aren’t going to fool people dealing with the Biden-Harris economic disaster every day.”
The jobs reports are legitimate and have capped a solid run for the U.S. economy. Growth has stayed solid even as the inflation rate has dropped from a four-decade high in 2022 to an annual rate of 2.5%.
Consumer confidence has been weak relative to overall economic growth, a sign that many people still don’t feel the strength seen in the latest jobs and inflation numbers. But Biden stressed that he was operating on valid data despite unfounded claims of falsification by supporters of Trump’s Make America Great Again movement.
“If you notice, anything the MAGA Republicans don’t like they call ‘fake,’” Biden said.
“The job numbers are what the job numbers are. They’re real. They’re sincere.”
The president also highlighted the deal reached Thursday to suspend a strike by 45,000 dockworkers on East and Gulf coast ports until Jan. 15, creating time to try to hash out a new contract.
Still, challenges remain for Biden as his final months as president involve the risk of a wider war in the Middle East.
Since Hamas attacked Israel nearly a year ago, Israel has retaliated by bombarding the Gaza region in ways that have raised human rights concerns, as well as killing Hezbollah leaders and launching airstrikes in Lebanon. On Tuesday, Iran fired at least 180 missiles into Israel.