Even Benjamin Netanyahu's biggest backer, Donald Trump, doesn't believe him on claims of 'no starvation' in Gaza

Australia Broadcast Center

30-07-2025

For a man who is in the media each and every day, Benjamin Netanyahu doesn't give many interviews.
But we now know his burger preferences.
The Israeli prime minister has only done two press conferences in Israel since late last year, working the local press into a state of exasperation. His preferred method of messaging is through his office distributing pre-recorded video missives.
It's this pattern of behaviour that made his appearance on a podcast late last week all the more jarring, not least because of how the discussion turned from military manoeuvring to the more mundane.
When he sat down with the Nelk Boys, social media pranksters turned right-wing podcasters, Mr Netanyahu was asked what his "go-to" at McDonald's was.
The Israeli prime minister shot back that Burger King was his fast-food purveyor of choice.
"You know, the double …" he said, gesturing to suggest the thickness of the meat patty.
"I like Burger King."
One of the hosts retorted, "that was your worst take" — clearly, a fan of the golden arches.
To be discussing such issues at a time when hundreds of thousands of Gazans were starving, many having not consumed a meal in days, can be seen as evidence of how detached Mr Netanyahu is from the realities in Gaza, and how such attitudes are commonplace in Israel, at least among the nation's politicians.
Imagine the uproar in Australia if there was famine on its doorstep, and a prime minister was fielding questions about his Uber Eats order. But in Israel, the comments have barely caused a ripple.
Benjamin Netanyahu is becoming more and more isolated on the world stage, as his rhetoric on the conditions in Gaza becomes more and more fanciful.
While announcing an easing of restrictions on aid deliveries in the strip, following a total humanitarian blockade of Gaza in March and the establishment of private aid distribution in mid-May, the prime minister made a startling claim.
"Israel is presented as though we are applying a campaign of starvation in Gaza," he told a Christian conference in Jerusalem on Sunday.
"What a bold-faced lie.
"There is no policy of starvation in Gaza, and there is no starvation in Gaza."
The reason that is startling is because of what is happening on the ground, less than 100 kilometres from Jerusalem.
Babies, barely skin and bone, have been dying in their mothers' arms. Adults have been fainting in the street, unable to continue.
Palestinian health authorities in Gaza have reported more than 140 deaths from starvation, and among them, more than 80 children.
They make up a proportion of the more than 60,000 who have been killed during the war — a figure Israel disputes without providing its own data, but which experts believe is likely an under-reporting of the deaths.
On Tuesday, the United Nations-backed Integrated Food Security Phase Classification (IPC) issued an alert that corroborated almost everything humanitarian agencies had been saying for months.
"The worst-case scenario of famine is currently playing out in the Gaza Strip," it said.
Earlier that day, Australia's Prime Minister Anthony Albanese told Labor's caucus Israeli "claims that there's no starvation in Gaza are beyond comprehension."
While Mr Netanyahu is unlikely to listen to the resident of The Lodge in Canberra, comments from the current occupant of the White House in Washington would be cause for concern.
"Some of those kids are — that's real starvation stuff," US President Donald Trump said on Monday.
"I see it, and you can't fake that."
For Mr Trump, image is everything. The property mogul turned reality TV star turned politician understands the power of such scenes from a public relations perspective, if not from a humanitarian perspective, too.
His statement suggested the ties binding the US administration and the Netanyahu government may be fraying, ever so slightly, even as the Israeli foreign minister tried to downplay it.
"I believe it will be very hard to try to find gaps between Israel and the US in terms of policies, including with regards to Gaza Strip," Gideon Sa'ar said.
The comments from the president won't carry much weight, however, unless he pressures his friend "Bibi" to change course — something not publicly clear at this stage, even as the pair differ on the state of suffering in Gaza.
Benjamin Netanyahu's language is not that surprising when you listen to how others in Israel's political ranks talk.
His comments play into the justified public anger directed at Hamas for its deadly attacks on Israel on October 7, 2023, and the fact that the group still holds 50 Israelis captive.
But it also appeals to his political base in the Israeli parliament, the Knesset.
Mr Netanyahu's national security minister, Itamar Ben-Gvir — a member of his coalition, from a smaller party propping up his government — has said far more incendiary things during 22 months of war.
The firebrand, who has criminal convictions for supporting a terrorist organisation, has spoken in the past of bombing Hamas's food stores and has recently also denied that hunger is present across Gaza.
He was furious with the decision of Mr Netanyahu to partially ease aid restrictions, saying he was cut out of the decision-making process.
"Prime minister, stop the spitting in the face of our fighters!" he posted on social media platform X.
Mr Ben-Gvir has repeatedly threatened to quit the government, and followed through on it when the last ceasefire and hostage deal between Israel and Hamas was agreed to in mid-January.
This time around, while venting his fury, he hasn't drafted his resignation letter.
Mr Netanyahu is hoping that people like Mr Ben-Gvir and fellow right-winger Bezalel Smotrich, the finance minister, will consume his insistence that there's no starvation in Gaza with enthusiasm.
His eagerness to please them, while yielding to international pressure to ease the crisis in Gaza, has become even more apparent as Israeli media starts reporting on his new plans for the future of the strip.
The newspaper Haaretz said the prime minister wanted to present a plan to his cabinet to use the threat of annexation of Gaza as a bargaining chip in negotiations with Hamas.
If Hamas doesn't agree to terms within days, Israel would start illegally seizing territory in the strip, bit by bit.
The prime minister has faced accusations of prolonging the war to save his political career, pandering to that hard-line rump of his coalition.
And while tens of thousands are taking to the streets of Israel every week to demand he agree to a ceasefire and hostage deal, there is also a large part of the Israeli community who agree.
Even those wanting an end to the war have nothing but anger for Hamas over the situation the group has fuelled, and the suffering it has inflicted.
Many Israelis do not see pictures of starvation in Gaza. The front page of some right-wing papers will feature photos of soldiers, without mention of emaciated babies.
This is what Mr Netanyahu is banking on, as he makes such outlandish statements, hoping to find more Israeli friends in the Burger King camp than an international community demanding his scalp.