By David E. Sanger and Eric Schmitt
In an unprecedented move after two months, President Joe Biden engaged in a phone call with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Wednesday, a discussion anticipated to address Israel’s intentions to respond against Iran following a missile strike.
However, this conversation was overshadowed by what is perceived as the most strained U.S.-Israel relations in years.
According to Israeli media reports, the secure line call, which also included Vice President Kamala Harris, commenced shortly after 10:30 a.m. The White House has confirmed that the discussion occurred and promised to provide details soon.
Nonetheless, recent patterns indicate that Biden’s team might refrain from disclosing specifics about the call, especially concerning Netanyahu’s potential adherence to Biden’s request to refrain from targeting Iran’s nuclear facilities and energy infrastructure.
This call occurred at a time when U.S. national security experts believe the situation in the Middle East is precarious. They have informed Biden that following the Iranian missile attack on October 1, which caused minimal damage in Israel, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei does not appear to be seeking a larger conflict.
However, U.S. officials are concerned that if Israel retaliates against Iran’s more sensitive installations, it may lead to an uncontrollable escalation. Shortly around the call, Israel’s defense minister, Yoav Gallant, released a video declaring, “Our attack will be lethal, precise, and above all unexpected,” hinting at possible covert operations within Iran. “They will not comprehend what transpired and how,” he remarked, adding, “They will witness the aftermath.”
Fears of escalation—further complicating an already regionalized conflict—explain why Biden has been openly critical of Netanyahu. Yet time and again in the previous year, the Israeli leader has largely dismissed the American president, wagering that Biden lacked the political capital to halt military support or assistance to Israel.
Following a series of unexpected Israeli strikes against Hezbollah in Lebanon, White House officials, unsettled, insisted on the need for the call to occur prior to any Israeli counteractions.
Reportedly, Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin expressed deep frustration, as the lack of advanced warning about the attacks in Lebanon endangered American lives in the region.
Senior U.S. officials are primarily worried about ensuring that Iran and Israel do not enter into an unregulated intensification of their longstanding covert conflict. Over the last six months, this ongoing dispute has transitioned into three distinct rounds of missile strikes between the two nations. It marks the first year since the Iranian revolution in 1979 that there have been direct assaults.
Netanyahu, for his part, perceives Biden’s relentless endeavors for a cease-fire in the Gaza Strip and, more recently, in Lebanon as detrimental to Israel’s opportunity to deliver significant blows to Hamas and Hezbollah, as noted by U.S. officials familiar with their discussions. In Netanyahu’s perspective, Israel has achieved substantial tactical victories against both Hamas and Hezbollah by dismantling a considerable portion of their leadership structures. U.S. and Israeli intelligence assess that over half of Hezbollah’s missile arsenal, aimed at Israeli targets, has been eliminated.
U.S. officials contend that it is crucial for Israel to translate its tactical achievements against Hamas and Hezbollah into a more comprehensive strategic win, which includes pursuing political agreements for cease-fires and ultimately moving towards a two-state solution that grants Palestinians their own homeland. However, they express concerns that Netanyahu is disinterested in this path and is instead focused on rehabilitating his image following the shocking terrorist assault on October 7, 2023, which resulted in the deaths of over 1,200 Israelis.
