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US officials say distrust between Biden administration and Netanyahu government is ‘growing’

October 9, 2024 at 8:38 am

US President Joe Biden (L), sits with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, at the start of the Israeli war cabinet meeting, in Tel Aviv [MIRIAM ALSTER/POOL/AFP via Getty Images]

US officials have said that there is a “growing distrust” between the Biden administration and the Netanyahu government over what the Israelis are telling the Americans about their military and political plans in the multi-front war it is waging, Walla reported on Tuesday. The distrust is growing against the backdrop of the attack that Israel is planning against Iran, in response to the latter’s missile attack last week. US officials said that the Biden administration does not oppose an Israeli response, but wants it to be calculated and controlled.

“Our level of trust in the Israelis is very low right now, and there are reasons for that,” said one US official. Two others revealed that National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan told Israel’s Minister of Strategic Affairs Ron Dermer last Friday that the US expects Israel to show “clarity and transparency” about its plans to attack Iran because such an attack could affect US forces and interests in the region. Dermer apparently responded that Israel wants to coordinate with the US, but American officials added that the Biden administration is wondering how much it can count on that to be the case.

Officials in Washington said that US Defence Secretary Lloyd Austin was “furious” when Israeli Defence Minister Yoav Gallant informed him of the assassination of Hezbollah Secretary-General Hassan Nasrallah just minutes before it happened. Austin regarded this as a breach of trust on Gallant’s part because he did not allow the Pentagon to take steps to protect US forces in the region.

Walla quoted Israeli officials as saying that Gallant told Austin that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu had ordered him not to inform the US in advance about Nasrallah’s assassination.

Another issue led to a lack of trust from the White House towards Netanyahu and his government when Biden announced a 21-day ceasefire initiative, after his advisers understood that Israel was interested in a truce. However, the Americans realised shortly after that the Israelis had backed down from the “silent understandings” regarding the initiative, said Walla.

US officials added that they are concerned about Israel imposing a blockade on the northern Gaza Strip, because Palestinians who will be displaced from this area will not be able to return to it. They also noted that the Biden administration informed Israel that this step is a violation of international and US law. They added that they do not know whether to believe Israel’s claims that the displacement of the residents of the northern Gaza Strip will not be permanent and indicated that “the Israelis tell us what we want to hear, and the problem is the lack of trust.”

Gallant is heading to Washington on Wednesday for a 24-hour visit, during which he will meet with Austin and Sullivan, with the aim of coordinating and discussing an Israeli attack on Iran. According to Walla, an Israeli official claimed that, “The Biden administration understands that we are a sovereign state, but they want to offer their advice. We will respond to the Iranian attack. There is no dispute about that, but we will not do it in a way that will lead to the start of a comprehensive war with Iran.”

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