Biden team wanted to ‘get rid' of Netanyahu for opposing its Gaza plans
The Biden administration considered ways to 'get rid' of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu when he wouldn't go along with their plans for the Gaza Strip, Channel 13's weekly investigative news show 'HaMakor' ('The Source') revealed on April 27.
'The White House got tired of Netanyahu and started to roll around a revolutionary idea … : how to get rid of Netanyahu,' said Raviv Drucker, who hosts the hour-long Sunday show.
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The April 27 broadcast, titled 'All the President's Men,' involved in-depth interviews with nine members of former U.S. President Joe Biden's administration, including former U.S. ambassador to Israel Thomas Nides, former national security advisor Jake Sullivan, former White House national security communications advisor John Kirby, former senior advisor for energy Amos Hochstein and former senior Biden aide Ilan Goldenberg.
5 According to investigative news show, 'HaMakor,' the Biden administration wanted to 'get rid' of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu due to Gaza Strip plans.
REUTERS
Worth noting is that the program was an apologia for the Biden administration, and that Drucker is a long-time critic of Netanyahu. The episode criticized the prime minister throughout, portraying him as ungrateful, as torpedoing potential hostage deals for political reasons and missing a chance to sign a normalization agreement with Saudi Arabia, among other missteps.
According to the program, the Biden administration became aggravated by Netanyahu's refusal to discuss the end goal of Israel's ground invasion of Gaza, specifically, who would take charge of the Gaza Strip after Hamas had been ousted.
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The Biden team proposed handing security to a foreign force, which would then turn Gaza over to Palestinian control, Goldenberg told 'HaMakor.'
'We actually had a pretty good program of training Palestinian security forces in the West Bank … But in the short term you needed something, probably Egyptians, Arabs … to come in and temporarily hold it because those Palestinians wouldn't be ready for a while,' he said.
Reflecting the Biden team's assessment that Netanyahu was standing in the way, Goldenberg told 'HaMakor's' Drucker that Israeli opposition leaders Benny Gantz and Gadi Eisenkot of the opposition National Unity Party, as well as the Defense Ministry and Israel Security Agency (Shin Bet), 'were willing to have those conversations … but the Prime Minister's Office is saying no.'
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Goldenberg expressed the opinion that Netanyahu didn't want to discuss the 'day after' because it would open a 'Pandora's box' and risk the stability of his coalition as its most right-wing members, namely Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich of the Religious Zionism Party and National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir of the Otzma Yehudit Party, would not stand for a solution that put Palestinians in control of the Strip.
5 President Joe Biden speaks with national security advisers after a bilateral meeting with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on July 25, 2024.
White House
Goldenberg, who now serves as senior vice president and chief policy officer at J Street, a U.S. nonprofit that calls for the creation of a Palestinian state, told the program, 'There were a lot of people who are talking about, including in the Oval Office, at times, the idea of … the president going out and giving a speech.'
The speech apparently would have been geared to helping Gantz, as he was perceived as being more open to the White House's plans.
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'Gantz was at 37 and Bibi was like at 15 … he was very weak,' Goldenberg said, referring to winter 2023 polls showing Gantz's party strengthening to 37 or 38 Knesset seats while Netanyahu's Likud Party dropped to between 16 and 18.
5 Biden meets with Netanyahu to discuss the ongoing conflict between Israel and Hamas, in Tel Aviv, Israel, in October 2023.
via REUTERS
'Joe Biden was still incredibly popular in Israel,' Goldenberg added, appearing to suggest Biden would parlay that popularity into votes for Netanyahu's opponents.
'The idea was that President Biden would place before the Israeli public two options,' Drucker explained.
'You can end the war, get all the hostages out, get a deal … Or, you keep doing what you're doing … Israel is in a forever war … Your sons and daughters are going to keep fighting. Most of the hostages are going to come home dead,' said Goldenberg.
'The idea would be to either force Netanyahu to come on board with that, or scramble Israeli politics and see if you could trigger elections … That's what people are saying. Let's just break this up because it's not going anywhere good,' Goldenberg added.
5 'The idea would be to either force Netanyahu to come on board with that, or scramble Israeli politics and see if you could trigger elections,' former senior Biden aide Ilan Goldenberg said.
via REUTERS
Biden did start criticizing Netanyahu publicly at the time. In February 2024, Biden said Israel's military offensive was 'over the top.' The following month, he said Netanyahu is 'hurting Israel more than helping Israel.'
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Also in March 2024, then-Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) condemned Netanyahu on the Senate floor, saying he had 'lost his way by allowing his political survival to take precedence over the best interests of Israel.' Schumer called for elections to replace Netanyahu.
According to 'HaMakor,' Biden told his people, 'I don't understand how Netanyahu is holding onto power.'
5 Biden has previously said Israel's military offensive was 'over the top.'
REUTERS
In the end, Biden 'didn't dare turn his statements into policy,' Drucker said.
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Said Goldenberg: 'There was a real debate about that. I think at the end of the day he was uncomfortable with the idea of going out that directly against Netanyahu.'
While Biden stopped short of going all-out to challenge Netanyahu, according to Goldenberg, the apparent willingness to consider the possibility once more raises questions about U.S. interference in Israel's internal politics.
The Biden administration has previously been accused of funneling money to Israeli groups opposed to the government's judicial reform plan via the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID).
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The Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), formed by the Trump administration to investigate improper funding, found that basic oversight was lacking, making it unlikely a smoking gun will be discovered pointing to USAID grants going to Israeli NGOs.
However, the accusations were enough to lead the Netanyahu coalition to introduce a bill in the Knesset 'to reduce the indirect influence of foreign government and political entities on the State of Israel.'
The bill, still working its way through the legislative process, would impose an 80% tax on donations from foreign entities to Israeli nonprofits. Such donations are currently tax-free.
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