Vice President Kamala Harris and other senior Biden administration officials held talks Monday with a member of Israel's wartime cabinet who came to Washington in defiance of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
White House officials said that Benny Gantz, Netanyahu's centrist political rival, requested the meeting, and the Democratic administration believes it is important to meet with the senior Israeli official despite Netanyahu's objections.
President Biden, Harris and other senior administration officials have become increasingly vocal about their dissatisfaction with the rising death toll in Gaza and the suffering of innocent Palestinians as the war approaches its five-month mark.
“We will discuss a number of things in terms of the priorities that we certainly have, which include getting the hostage deal done, getting aid in and then getting to a six-week ceasefire,” Harris told reporters shortly before the meeting. With Gantz.
On Saturday, the United States carried out the first of what is expected to be sustained airdrops of humanitarian aid into Gaza.
Israeli Cabinet Minister Benny Gantz attends a press conference at the Kirya military base in Tel Aviv on October 28, 2023.
(Abeer Sultan/Associated Press)
The moment reflects the increasingly awkward dynamics in the US-Israel relationship, as the US has been forced to funnel much-needed aid through its close ally as it looks to ramp up aid to desperate civilians in Gaza. The first airdrop occurred just days after more than 100 Palestinians were killed while trying to obtain food from a convoy organized by Israel.
The White House agreed to meet with Gantz, although an official from Netanyahu's nationalist Likud Party said that Gantz did not obtain the prime minister's approval for his meetings in Washington. Netanyahu gave Gantz a “tough talk” about the visit — highlighting the widening rift within Israel’s wartime leadership.
“We have been engaging with all members of the war cabinet, including Mr. Gantz,” White House national security spokesman John Kirby said. “We see this as a natural outcome of those discussions. We will not give up this type of opportunity.”
In addition to his talks with Harris, Gantz met with White House National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan and National Security Council Coordinator for the Middle East Brett McGurk. Gantz was also scheduled to meet on Monday with Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) and on Tuesday with Secretary of State Antony Blinken.
Before the start of his meetings at the White House, Gantz said to a reporter at the Israeli public broadcaster “Kan”: “There will be an open and honest conversation between two friendly and important countries and partners.”
Biden is at Camp David, the presidential retreat outside Washington, through Tuesday as he prepares to deliver his annual State of the Union address later this week.
Over the weekend, Harris issued a strong call for a temporary ceasefire in Gaza, which administration officials say will stop the fighting for at least six weeks, and also increased pressure on Israel not to impede the aid workers were trying to get. Region. The White House has been calling for this framework agreement for weeks.
Israel has essentially agreed to the deal, according to a senior Biden administration official, and the White House has stressed that the onus is on Hamas to join it.
Biden is facing increasing political pressure at home over his administration's handling of the war between Israel and Hamas, which broke out when gunmen in Gaza launched an attack that killed about 1,200 people and took about 250 hostages.
In Michigan's presidential primary last week, more than 100,000 Democratic primary voters cast their ballots for the “uncommitted.” Biden still easily won the state's primary. But the vote total raises concerns for Democrats in a state that Biden won by just 154,000 votes in 2020.
Gantz, who opinion polls show could be a formidable candidate for prime minister if elections were held today, is seen as a political moderate. But he remained vague about his view on Palestinian statehood — something Biden sees as essential to achieving lasting peace once the conflict ends but which Netanyahu staunchly opposes.
It is also assumed that when the intense fighting subsides, Gantz will leave the government, which will increase pressure to hold early elections.
Since Gantz joined Netanyahu's three-minister government in October, US officials have found it easier to deal with him than Netanyahu or Defense Minister Yoav Galant. Although Gantz holds many of the same hard-line views as Netanyahu and Gallant, he is seen as more open to compromise on crucial issues, including increasing humanitarian aid delivery.
So far, calls for elections have remained muted due to the war, but analysts believe that when Gantz leaves government, it will send a signal to the Israeli public that the need for national unity is over and that efforts to oust Netanyahu's government could begin in 2018. .
For his part, Gantz aimed to strengthen relations with the United States, boost support for Israel's war and press for the release of Israeli hostages, according to a second Israeli official. The officials spoke on condition of anonymity because they are not allowed to publicly discuss differences within the Israeli government. Gantz is scheduled to head to London to hold meetings after his visit to the United States.
It was not clear whether, during his talks at the White House, Gantz deviated from Netanyahu’s positions regarding establishing a Palestinian state or implementing an expanded operation in the city of Rafah in the far south of Gaza. The Biden administration has repeatedly warned Israel against the Rafah operation without a plan to protect civilians.
“I have no doubt that some administration officials believe that by simply meeting with Gantz they are undermining Netanyahu,” said Richard Goldberg, a senior adviser at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies, a conservative think tank in Washington. “But if Gantz sticks to the government’s line on key issues of contention, these meetings will be entirely negative for the White House while beneficial for Gantz back home.”
Associated Press writers Tia Goldenberg in Tel Aviv; Wafaa Al-Shurafa in Rafah, Gaza Strip; Sami Magdy in Cairo, Matthew Lee and Zeke Miller contributed to this report.
