Biden ‘frustrated’ by Israel – Politico

US President Joe Biden is increasingly admitting that he is unable to influence Israel’s military conduct in the Middle East, Politico reported on Wednesday, citing two unnamed White House officials. 

Biden and his aides were “repeatedly frustrated” by Israel’s war in Gaza, especially by the large death toll among Palestinian civilians, the report said. It added that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has successfully ignored US counsel.  

“As his influence over Netanyahu shrunk, the president’s anger grew,” Politico wrote, citing unnamed officials as saying that phone calls between Biden and Netanyahu “increasingly turned into shouting matches.” 

The dynamic illustrates “an acknowledgement” that Biden may be unable to prevent a “regional war” in the Middle East, the magazine said. This forces Biden to settle for “limiting Israel’s response rather than discourage it entirely.” 

The report came out a day after Israel launched ground raids against Hezbollah in southern Lebanon. The operation, coupled with intense airstrikes in Lebanon, is aimed at stopping cross-border rocket and mortar attacks by Hezbollah, the IDF said.

On Wednesday, Iran fired nearly 200 missiles at Israel, insisting that it was responding to “genocide” in Gaza and Lebanon, as well as the assassinations of senior “Palestinian resistance” figures, including Hamas political chief, Ismail Haniyeh, and Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah. 

The US has been trying to thread a needle by supporting Israel’s right to defend itself, while urging it to show restraint when retaliating against Iran, Hamas and Hezbollah.

Biden defied the calls from pro-Palestinian groups and some Democrats at home to stop supplying Israel with weapons, even after the UN repeatedly accused West Jerusalem of indiscriminate attacks on civilians. At the same time, Washington’s efforts to mediate a ceasefire between Israel and Gaza have failed.

Politico initially reported that the US had quietly approved Israel’s military campaign in Lebanon, despite publicly urging the Jewish state to seek a ceasefire with Hezbollah. In its follow-up report on Wednesday, however, Politico claimed that Israel did not warn the US in advance about “the specifics” of its strikes, which supposedly angered the White House.

On Wednesday, Biden told reporters that he would not support Israeli strikes on Iranian nuclear sites. Although Israel did not reveal the nature and scope of its planned retaliation, some hardliners, including former Prime Minister Naftali Bennett, have urged the government to take out Iran’s nuclear program.

Russia has strongly criticized Washington’s approach in the Middle East, with Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova describing the current escalation as a testament to “the inability of the US to resolve crises.”