Joe Biden
“Liat Beinin Atzili is a survivor,” said the president, who vowed that “my work isn’t done until we secure the release of all remaining hostages.”
The prime minister reiterated Israel’s “commitment to end the war only after all of its goals have been achieved.”
The U.S. president is expected to pressure the Israeli leader to accept Hamas’s changes to an American outline.
White House aides told the New York Times that Biden threatened to abandon Israel if Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu launched a large-scale retaliation to Iran’s April 13 attack.
The two leaders last met in mid-October, when Biden visited the Jewish state in the aftermath of Hamas’s massacre.
Mark Mellman, who runs Democratic Majority for Israel, told JNS that it would be a “terrible idea” to replace the president on the Democratic ticket.
The current and former U.S. presidents clashed briefly but explosively on Israel in a debate that raises questions about Biden’s age and fitness for office.
“Trump has a huge opportunity to contrast himself with Biden on the issues of Israel and Iran,” the presidential historian Tevi Troy told JNS.
“I am willing to absorb personal attacks if that is what it takes for Israel to get the arms and ammunition it needs in its war for survival,” said Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan will reportedly still meet his Israeli counterpart, Tzachi Hanegbi, who was already en route to Washington.
Noting the overlap of their careers, the U.S. president said: “I respected his reporting and insights whether I agreed or disagreed with him.”
“Antisemitism doesn’t just threaten Jewish Americans. It threatens all Americans, and our fundamental democratic values,” the U.S. president said.
