WASHINGTON (AP) — Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu visited the White Home Thursday to debate the conflict in Gaza ― and the potential of securing a cease-fire deal ― with President Joe Biden and sure Democratic nominee Vice President Kamala Harris.
Netanyahu’s first White Home go to since 2020, when former President Donald Trump was in workplace, comes at a time of rising stress in Israel and the U.S. to seek out an endgame to the nine-month conflict that’s left greater than 39,000 lifeless in Gaza and a few 1,200 lifeless in Israel. Dozens of Israeli hostages are nonetheless languishing in Hamas captivity.
White Home nationwide safety spokesman John Kirby stated Biden was utilizing the assembly to reiterate his requires Israel and Hamas to shortly comply with a cease-fire deal that might carry house the remaining hostages. White Home officers say the negotiations are within the closing phases, however there are points that have to be resolved.
“The gaps are closable,” Kirby stated. He added, “But it’s going to require, as it always does, some leadership, some compromise.”
Harris is scheduled to fulfill individually on Thursday with Netanyahu and can also be anticipated to press him on securing a deal to launch the hostages, who had been kidnapped throughout Hamas’ Oct. 7 assault on Israel that launched the conflict. The Israeli chief is headed to Florida on Friday to fulfill with the Republican presidential nominee Trump.
Biden greeted Netanyahu within the Oval Workplace, the place the Israeli chief thanked the president for his service.
The conservative Likud Get together chief Netanyahu and centrist Democrat Biden have had ups-and-downs over time. Netanyahu, in what is going to possible be his final White Home assembly with Biden, mirrored on the roughly 40 years they’ve recognized one another.
“From a proud Jewish Zionist to a proud Irish American Zionist, I want to thank you for 50 years of public service and 50 years of support for the state of Israel,” Netanyahu advised Biden firstly of their assembly.
Biden thanked Netanyahu and joked that his first assembly with an Israeli prime minister, Golda Meir, in 1973 quickly after he was elected to the Senate got here when he was solely 12.
A U.S.-backed proposal to launch remaining hostages in Gaza over three phases is one thing that might be a legacy-affirming achievement for the 81-year-old Democrat, who deserted his reelection bid and endorsed Harris. It is also a boon for Harris in her bid to succeed him.
Following their talks, Biden and Netanyahu will meet the households of American hostages.
For Harris, the assembly with Netanyahu is a chance to show that she has the mettle to function commander in chief. She’s being scrutinized by these on the political left who say Biden hasn’t accomplished sufficient to pressure Netanyahu to finish the conflict and by Republicans trying to model her as inadequate in her assist for Israel.
A senior administration official, who briefed reporters on the situation of anonymity below floor guidelines set by the White Home, stated there’s “no daylight between the president and vice president” on Israel. Harris’ final one-on-one engagement with Netanyahu was in March 2021, however she’s taken half in additional than 20 calls between Biden and Netanyahu.
Netanyahu is attempting to navigate his personal delicate political second. He faces stress from the households of hostages demanding a cease-fire settlement to carry their family members house and from far-right members of his governing coalition who demand he resist any deal that would hold Israeli forces from eliminating Hamas.
Netanyahu, in a fiery deal with earlier than a joint session of Congress on Wednesday, supplied a strong protection of Israel’s conduct through the conflict and lashed out in opposition to accusations by the Worldwide Prison Court docket of Israeli conflict crimes. He made the case that Israel, in its combat in opposition to Iran-backed Hamas, was successfully protecting “Americans boots off the ground while protecting our shared interests in the Middle East.” The Israeli chief spent scant time discussing the continuing negotiations.
“Remember this: Our enemies are your enemies,” Netanyahu advised American lawmakers. “Our fight, it’s your fight. And our victory will be your victory. ”
Netanyahu used his speech to reward Biden for his administration’s assist within the aftermath of the Oct. 7 assault. However he additionally went out of his option to be aware motion that Trump took throughout his 4 years in workplace that benefited Israel, together with recognizing Israel’s sovereignty over the Golan Heights, confronting Iran’s aggression and transferring the united statesEmbassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem.
Netanyahu additionally slammed protesters who massed close to the U.S. Capitol on Wednesday, calling them Iran’s “useful idiots.”
Harris on Thursday stated she was outraged that some protesters tagged areas close to the U.S. Capitol with pro-Hamas graffiti, expressed assist for the militants and burned a U.S. flag at Union Station.
“Pro-Hamas graffiti and rhetoric is abhorrent and we must not tolerate it in our nation,” Harris stated in an announcement. “I condemn the burning of the American flag. That flag is a symbol of our highest ideals as a nation and represents the promise of America. It should never be desecrated in that way.”
Protesters massed close to the White Home on Thursday chanted, “Arrest Netanyahu,” and introduced in an effigy of the prime minister with blood on its fingers and sporting an orange jumpsuit. A small variety of counter-protesters wore Israeli flags round their shoulders.
Trump and his Republican allies criticized Harris, who had occasions in Indiana and Texas on Wednesday, for skipping Netanyahu’s deal with to Congress.
The vp is the president of the Senate and would sometimes co-preside over such an occasion with the Home speaker, Republican Mike Johnson. However there have been different cases in latest historical past when the vp has skipped such addresses. Biden, as vp, skipped an deal with Netanyahu made to Congress in 2015.
White Home officers stated that her absence wasn’t a slight and was solely as a consequence of scheduling conflicts. Sen. JD Vance, the Republican vice presidential nominee, additionally skipped the speech to marketing campaign.
Harris has lengthy spoken of her sturdy assist for Israel. The primary abroad journey of her Senate profession in early 2017 was to Israel, and one among her first acts in workplace was to introduce a decision opposing a U.N. Safety Council decision condemning Israel.
She’s additionally spoken of her private ties to Israel, together with reminiscences of elevating cash as a toddler to plant timber in Israel, putting in a mezuzah close to the entrance door of the vp’s residence in Washington (her husband is Jewish) and her connections to pro-Israel teams together with the conservative American Israel Public Affairs Committee and the liberal J Avenue.
Harris has largely been in lockstep with Biden all through the battle, however at moments she’s been a front-runner for more durable Biden administration rhetoric on Israel.
She used a high-profile deal with in March in Selma, Alabama, a day earlier than she met with Netanyahu rival and Israeli conflict cupboard member Benny Gantz to decry Palestinians “starving” within the face of “inhumane” situations and to induce Israel to do extra to alleviate civilian struggling in Gaza.
AP author Ashraf Khalil contributed reporting.
