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Saturday 23 Nov 2024
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US President Joe Biden 's growing frustration with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu continues to mount, with the Democrat captured on a hot mic saying that he and the Israeli leader will need to have a "come to Jesus meeting", which is an American expression for having a blunt conversation.
The comments by Biden came as he spoke with Senator Michael Bennet, on the floor of the House chamber following Thursday night's State of the Union address.
In the exchange, Bennet urges the president to keep pressing Netanyahu on growing humanitarian concerns in Gaza. Secretary of State Antony Blinken and Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg were also part of the brief conversation.
Biden then responds using Netanyahu's nickname, saying, "I told him, Bibi, and don't repeat this, but you and I are going to have a 'come to Jesus' meeting."
An aide to the president then speaks quietly into the president's ear, appearing to alert Biden that microphones remained on as he worked the room.
"I'm on a hot mic here," Biden says after being alerted. "Good. That’s good."
On Friday, when asked, in the wake of the recorded comments, if Netanyahu needed to do more to let in relief to the besieged Palestinian territory amid UN warnings of looming famine, Biden remarked, "Yes he does."
Despite his public concerns over Israel's conduct of the war, the Biden administration continues to flood arms into Israel, with the White House reportedly greenlighting over 100 military sales — including precision-guided munitions, bunker busters, small-diameter bombs, and other lethal weaponry — to Tel Aviv since its invasion of Gaza.
The approval of those sales by Biden invoking emergency authority has sometimes bypassed the US Congress, drawing public scrutiny.
Massive humanitarian crisis
A widening humanitarian crisis across Gaza and tight Israeli control of aid trucks have left virtually the entire population desperately short of food, according to the United Nations.
Officials have been warning for months that Israel's siege and invasion were pushing the Palestinian territory into complete starvation.
In his State of the Union address on Thursday, Biden called on the Israelis to do more to alleviate the suffering even as they try to eliminate Hamas.
"To Israel, I say this humanitarian assistance cannot be a secondary consideration or a bargaining chip," Biden said.
The US president announced in his speech that the US military would help establish a temporary pier aimed at boosting the amount of aid getting into the besieged territory.
Last week, the US military began air-dropping aid into Gaza, which was criticised for being delusive due to its insufficient scale compared to the hundreds of thousands starved Palestinians.
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Source: TRT
