President Joe Biden rebuked Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of Israel on Saturday over the rising civilian death toll in the Gaza Strip, even as he reaffirmed American support for a longtime ally.
“He has a right to defend Israel, a right to continue to pursue Hamas, but he must, he must, he must pay more attention to the innocent lives being lost as a consequence of the actions taken,” Biden said of Netanyahu in an interview with the MSNBC.
“In my view, he’s hurting Israel more than helping Israel,” Biden said, appearing to refer to Netanyahu’s military strategy. “It’s contrary to what Israel stands for, and I think it’s a big mistake. So I want to see a ceasefire.”
Asked by the interviewer, Jonathan Capehart, if he had a “red line” that Netanyahu should not cross, like a ground invasion of Rafah in southern Gaza, Biden offered a muddled response but said that “the defence of Israel is still critical”.
“He cannot have 30,000 more Palestinians dead as a consequence” of his pursuit of Hamas, the President said, referring to Netanyahu.
“There’s other ways to deal, to get to, to deal with the trauma caused by Hamas,” he added.
New York Times News Service
