Biden Pledges ‘Ironclad’ Support for Israel During Phone Call with Netanyahu
US President Joe Biden reaffirmed his “ironclad” support for Israel during a telephone conversation with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, the White House announced, amid an escalation of violence in the Gaza Strip and Lebanon.
The call between the two leaders on Wednesday lasted 30 minutes and was their first publicly announced conversation since August.The White House announced in a statement that Vice President Kamala Harris, who is running to succeed Biden in the US presidential election next month, joined the call.“The president affirmed his ironclad commitment to Israel’s security,” the statement said. “He condemned unequivocally Iran’s ballistic missile attack against Israel on October 1,” it added.White House Spokeswoman Karine Jean-Pierre earlier had described the talks as “direct” and “productive”.The call comes as Tel Aviv considers an attack against Tehran in response to Iranian ballistic missile launches that targeted Israeli military sites last week.Jean-Pierre stated that Biden and Netanyahu had “discussions” about the confrontation with Iran, without providing further details.
Iran fired a barrage of missiles at Israeli bases last week in retaliation for the Israeli assassination of Hamas chief Ismail Haniyeh in Tehran and the assassinations in Beirut of Hezbollah leader Seyed Hassan Nasrallah and an Iranian general.The US administration pledged to ensure that Iran would face “severe consequences” for the attack.Asked after the missile launches whether he would support an Israeli strike on Iran’s nuclear facilities, Biden said: “The answer is no". The American president also suggested that Washington opposes bombing Iran’s oilfields.Such an attack would send oil prices soaring across the world, which could prove costly for Harris ahead of the November 5 election.The US has provided unconditional military and diplomatic support for Israel since the outbreak of the war on the besieged enclave – a policy that Harris has promised to maintain.
While Washington has warned against expanding the war, the Biden administration announced it is in favour of the Israeli offensive in Lebanon, which has killed more than 2,100 people and displaced over one million others.It has also backed Israel’s ground invasion of the country’s South.The White House said on Wednesday that Biden, in his call with Netanyahu, had emphasised the need for a “diplomatic solution” to the crisis in Lebanon. Biden also expressed concern for Lebanese civilians, the statement read.“The president affirmed Israel’s right to protect its citizens from Hezbollah, which has fired thousands of missiles and rockets into Israel over the past year alone, while emphasizing the need to minimize harm to civilians, in particular in the densely populated areas of Beirut,” it added.But on Tuesday, the US State Department suggested that Washington is no longer seeking a ceasefire between Israel and Hezbollah because the Lebanese group is “on the back foot”.That same day, Netanyahu warned the Lebanese people that if they do not turn against Hezbollah, their country would face a “long war that will lead to destruction and suffering like we see in Gaza”.
On Tuesday, Hezbollah’s deputy leader Naim Qassem stated the Lebanese group’s ability to resist Israel’s military is intact after a series of attacks and assassinations by the Zionist regime."Our military capabilities are fine. What our enemies say about our fighting capabilities is an illusion. They are lying. Our fighters on the frontline are solid," Sheikh Qassem stressed."What happened over the last 10 days is [that] the pain of the Israelis is increasing. We are telling them, more and more Israelis will be displaced from the settlements. The Israeli plan is to kill Lebanese civilians and empty villages to cause chaos. But I tell them, your efforts are a failure," he added.Israel has killed more than 42,000 Palestinians in the blockaded Palestinian territory, where it has levelled entire residential neighbourhoods and imposed severe restrictions on humanitarian aid, bringing Gaza to the verge of famine.The White House announced that Biden and Netanyahu have discussed the urgent need to renew diplomacy to release the hostages held by Hamas in the Gaza Strip. The president also discussed the humanitarian situation in the tiny enclave and the imperative to restore access to the North, including by reinvigorating the corridor from Jordan immediately.
US Department of State Spokesperson Matthew Miller warned that there “should be no kind of military action in Lebanon that looks anything like Gaza”.Responding to Netanyahu’s threat that Lebanese people will see “destruction and suffering like we see in Gaza” if they do not oust Hezbollah, Jean-Pierre also told reporters, “That is not what we want to see”.“We cannot and will not see Lebanon turned into another Gaza,” she said, adding, “The suffering in both Gaza and Lebanon adds even greater urgency, as you’ve heard from us, to our efforts, certainly to end the conflicts and lay a foundation for lasting peace and security in the region.”But parts of Southern and Eastern Lebanon and the Southern Beirut suburb of Dahiyeh are already seeing widespread destruction due to Israeli bombardments.As the war expands in Lebanon, Israel has been pushing on with its military campaign in the besieged strip.Palestinian rights advocates have accused the Israeli government of carrying out an ethnic cleansing campaign in the North of the territory by withholding aid and shutting centres sheltering civilians.On Wednesday, Miller expressed concern about possible abuses in Gaza.“We have been making clear to the government of Israel that they have an obligation under international humanitarian law to allow food and water and other needed humanitarian assistance to make it into all parts of Gaza, and we fully expect them to comply with those obligations,” he stated.
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