Biden and Benjamin Netanyahu expected to have a phone conversation
US: According to several sources, US President Joe Biden and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu are scheduled to speak over the phone on Wednesday. The conversation is likely to cover any potential preparations to strike Iran after Tehran’s missile assault on Israel.
Israel’s reaction to Iran’s strike last week, which Tehran carried out in retaliation for a military build-up in Lebanon, puts the Middle East on edge. According to four US officials who spoke with Axios, the Biden administration has become less trusting of the Israeli government’s statements on its military and diplomatic strategies in the multifront conflict it is engaged in in West Asia in recent weeks.
Tension between America and Israel
According to US authorities, Washington has not been “consulted or notified in advance” and has instead been taken by surprise on several occasions in recent memory by Israeli military or intelligence operations. Notably, Israeli planes were on route to carry out an attack someplace in the Middle East when they were alerted to the Biden administration. The US news site claims that the Israelis kept the Americans in the dark about their plot to kill Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh in Tehran.
Additionally, according to the Wall Street Journal, Biden’s administration is irate that the Israeli government won’t discuss its intentions with it about Iran. According to the American news source, Jerusalem shocked Washington by killing Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah late last month without consulting the White House, citing unidentified US officials.
Is Jerusalem prepared to defend itself independently?
After learning of the operation, US Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin called Defense Minister Yoav Gallant and asked, “Excuse me, what did you say?” According to The Times of Israel, Austin questioned Gallant during a follow-up phone conversation on whether Jerusalem was prepared to defend itself independently since the US hadn’t had time to mobilize troops in case Hezbollah retaliated right away.
According to a separate Washington Post article about the “distrust” between Israel and the US, Austin privately referred to Netanyahu’s administration as “playing with house money” and assumed that Israel could always rely on US support to protect it from any Iranian reprisals.
These allegations about the US-Israel dispute coincide with Netanyahu’s declaration that Iran, Israel’s worst enemy, would foot the bill for its missile assault. Meanwhile, Tehran has warned that any counterattack would result in “vast destruction,” igniting worries of a bigger conflict in the area that produces oil and perhaps including the US.
According to Reuters, Washington intends to comment on whether Israel’s reaction is justified, and a major topic of discussion during the conversation will be Israel’s reply. Last Friday, Biden said that if he were in Israel, he would consider options other than attacking Iranian oil fields and that he believed Israel was still unsure of how to react to Iran.
Conflicts in Lebanon and Gaza
The US and other allies have called on Israel to negotiate a truce in Gaza and Lebanon, but Israel has said that it would not stop its military operations until Israelis are secure. It is anticipated that Biden and Netanyahu would also talk about the ongoing confrontations with Hezbollah in Lebanon and Hamas in Gaza.
After Hamas terrorists stormed southern Israel on October 7, 2023, murdering 1,200 people and kidnapping 250 more, according to Israeli accounts, Israel claims it is defending itself against other militants, such as Hezbollah, who backs Hamas. The US has said that it is in favor of Israel attacking groups that Iran supports, such as Hamas and Hezbollah. Nonetheless, the international community has denounced Israel for the more than 2,000 fatalities in Lebanon and the over 42,000 deaths in the Gaza conflict, as reported by the Palestinian Health Ministry.
