Netanyahu meets with Biden and Harris after divisive speech to Congress
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Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu met with US President Joe Biden on Thursday, a day after his controversial joint speech to the US Congress drew boycotts and protests.
The meeting was Netanyahu’s first visit to the White House since he returned to power in late 2022 and was seen by US officials as an opportunity to press the Israeli prime minister on the proposed Gaza ceasefire and hostage deal that he has yet to publicly endorse, including in a speech to parliament.
Netanyahu remains under fire for failures leading up to Hamas’ October 7 attack on Israel, and faces growing calls to accept a US-backed deal opposed by his far-right coalition partners that would end the fighting and free hostages still held by Hamas in Gaza.
“It’s time for us to believe that a deal can be completed and it’s time to act to complete that deal,” a senior US administration official said ahead of Netanyahu’s meeting, adding that both Israel and Hamas must take steps to allow the deal to be implemented.
The prime minister also met with Vice President Kamala Harris on Thursday afternoon. Harris, who did not attend Netanyahu’s speech to Congress, condemned the protests that followed the visit, saying “anti-Semitism, hatred and violence” have no place in the United States.
In comments to reporters after the meeting, the future presidential candidate offered a glimpse into how she might pursue the U.S.-Israel relationship if she wins the election.
While she shared similar views with Biden on the Israel-Hamas war, she was more critical of Israel’s behavior, saying that while she has long had an “unwavering commitment to Israel,” the country has the right to defend itself, but “how they do it matters.”
During the meeting, she also expressed grave concern about “the scale of human suffering in Gaza, including the deaths of so many innocent civilians”. “We cannot allow ourselves to become numb to the suffering. And I will not be silent,” she said.
She called for an end to the war and said there was a “movement of hope” towards a ceasefire. “To all those who have called for a ceasefire and all those who want peace: I see you and I hear you. Let’s make a deal,” she said.
About half of congressional Democrats skipped Netanyahu’s speech on Wednesday, in which he praised both Biden and Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump but still defied his war efforts and thousands of protesters gathered nearby to call on the United States to stop arming Israel and end the war in Gaza.
In his speech, the prime minister reiterated that Israel would not stop until it achieved “complete victory” over Hamas, the militant group that carried out the October 7 attack that sparked the war.
“America and Israel must stand together,” Netanyahu said on Wednesday. “Our enemies are your enemies, our fight is your fight, and our victory will be your victory.”
Despite the pressure, the prime minister laid out his post-war vision on Wednesday, telling US lawmakers that Israel wanted to see a “demilitarised and deradicalised Gaza Strip” and that it had no intention of retaking the enclave but would seek to “maintain ultimate security control” for the “foreseeable future” to prevent a resurgence of Hamas.
The war in Gaza has strained relations between Israel and the United States, and Netanyahu has sought to strike a conciliatory tone in the chamber.
It was a notable contrast to his speech in 2015 calling on Congress to scrap the nuclear deal with Iran that the United States and other governments had just agreed to, angering then-President Barack Obama and Democrats.
Additional reporting by Mehul Srivastava in London
