The “come to Jesus moment” Joe Biden referenced is already here, according to Israeli and U.S. sources.
Weeks before “uncommitted” voters sent a message to Joe Biden that he needs to bring an end to Israel’s war in Gaza or risk losing reelection, the president had evidently decided — to borrow another American neologism — to consciously uncouple from Benjamin Netanyahu, Israel’s recalcitrant prime minister.
In the past month, he has, through a series of relatively quiet but closely linked and deliberate moves, sought to marginalize Bibi, as Netanyahu is ubiquitously known, internationally and at home. The change spilled out publicly on Thursday night following the State of the Union address, when Biden announced he ordered the U.S. military to bring humanitarian aid to Gaza via a sea pier. After the speech, Biden was stopped by Senator Michael Bennet of Colorado, who told him to “keep pushing” Israel’s leader. Smiling, Biden said, “I told him, ‘Bibi,’— don’t repeat this— ‘you & I are going to have a come to Jesus moment.” Hidden behind Secretary of State Antony Blinken, a presidential aide whispered, “Sir, you’re on a hot mic,” to which a buoyant Biden replied, “I’m on a hot mic here. Good. That’s good.”
President Biden: «I told him, Bibi, and don’t repeat this, but you and I are going to have a ‘come to Jesus’ meeting.»
“I’m on a hot mic here. Good. That’s good.” pic.twitter.com/KCgpbx4awf— Sawyer Hackett (@SawyerHackett) March 8, 2024
Itamar Rabinovich, a former Israeli ambassador to the U.S. and an authority on the relationship between the two countries, says the White House has been unhappy with Netanyahu for a long time, “but now in my view they’re even angrier and they are sharpening the tone. Biden is not coming at him personally, but off-the-record and in closed meetings, the sentiment is clear. They disagree on many things: on Gaza the day after the war; on the Palestinian Authority; on a return to Israeli-Palestinian negotiations; all very significant issues.”
One Israeli expert frequently consulted by American officials says, “I have been asked by a serious administration figure what it is that will force the Netanyahu coalition to collapse. They were interested in the mechanics, what can we demand which will collapse his coalition.”
In the event the new American position over Netanyahu remained unclear, Vice President Kamala Harris left no doubts in a Friday interview with CBS News, which asked “are the Israelis at risk of losing U.S. aid if this continues?” Harris replied: “I think it’s important for us to distinguish or at least not conflate the Israeli government with the Israeli people.”
In other words: Israelis, we’re with you. Netanyahu, be gone.
Biden’s command to build a sea pier is an end-run around Netanyahu’s dithering to allow aid to be transported overland from Israel, as the U.S. has demanded for months. The 300,000 people remaining in northern Gaza are at greatest danger of starvation, and almost 2 million are huddling in Rafah, on the border with Egypt, where Netanyahu is rattling sabres about an offensive against Hamas. His fight against more aid has helped him with his hard-right base, which opposes any support for the Gazan population, and has stymied negotiations for the release of Israel’s 134 remaining hostages held by Hamas in exchange for a ceasefire.
The pier was the second initiative through which Biden undermined Netanyahu over that past week. On March 1, immediately following a stampede around trucks delivering food and water to Gaza City, in which the crush and shots fired by Israeli soldiers who say they were protecting the vehicles left more than 100 dead, Biden announced the U.
