Biden refutes plans to address Israeli Parliament after ‘come to Jesus’ remark
US President Joe Biden has said that he does not have any plans to address the Knesset after saying over the weekend that he is likely to step in to appeal to the Israeli public directly over his concerns on Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s handling of the Gaza war.
In an interview with MSNBC Biden highlighted concerns over civilian deaths in Gaza, and asserted that PM Netanyahu was hurting Israel more than helping the country and its interests. He also called the planned military operation in southern Gaza’s Rafah a “red line.”
When asked if he would wait for an invitation to speak by Netanyahu, Biden responded saying, “I’d rather not discuss it more.”
Meanwhile, on Monday evening, in an interaction with the White House pool, Biden denied his plans to address the Israeli Parliament, Knesset.
Reporters asked him if he has plans to address the Israeli Parliament, and he responded, “No, not at this moment.”
Posing a question on his ‘come to Jesus’ remark after his SOTU address, reporters asked Biden, “Have you scheduled your ‘come to Jesus’ meeting with Bibi Netanyahu?”, to which the president said, “We’ll see what happens.”
What was Biden’s ‘Come to Jesus’ remark?
After his State of the Union address, President Biden spoke to a Democrat senator Michael Bennet, where he told him about a conversation with the Israeli leader, often referred to by his nickname “Bibi”, a moment which went viral on social media.
“I told him, Bibi [Netanyahu,]… you and I are going to have a ‘come to Jesus’ moment,” Biden said following which he was interrupted by an aide to stop Biden exclaiming “Sir!” and whispering in his ear.
Not realising the situation, Biden said “I’m on a hot mic here,” adding, “Good. That was good.”
‘Come to Jesus’ is a term used to refer to the point in time when someone has a major realization.
Post his video going viral, Biden clarified his statement saying, “It’s an expression used in the southern part of my state meaning ‘a serious meeting,'”. “I’ve known Bibi (Netanyahu) for 50 years, and he knew what I meant by it.”
In a reported spat, Biden in an MSNBC interview said that Netanyahu’s policies have been ‘harming more than helping Israel’, to which the PM hit back saying that Biden is “wrong on both fronts”.
Biden, Netanyahu relationship grows sour
A possibility of rife between US President Joe Biden and Israeli PM Benjamin Netanyahu has been making rounds for quite some time after signs of disagreements and rising frustrations in leaders’ recent statements have surfaced in the past couple of months.
From concerns over the rising death toll in Gaza and Israel’s possible operation in Rafah, Biden has been criticising Netanyahu over his war tactics. In fact, the former has not spoken to the latter in two weeks.
While Biden vocally supports Israel’s stated goals of defeating Hamas and rescuing those who have been held hostage, the White House disagrees with the way Israel has been carrying out its operations.
