Netanyahu speaks to Biden as Israel's Iran retaliation looms

Ethan Bronner and Jenny Leonard, Bloomberg News on Oct 9, 2024

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Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office said he spoke with U.S. President Joe Biden for the first time in more than a month as Washington looks to temper Israel’s retaliation for last week’s missile attack from Iran.

The two sides were expected to provide readouts of what the leaders discussed later Wednesday.

The conversation was the first time Biden and Netanyahu had spoken since August. In the weeks since then, Israel has launched a massive campaign to target the Iran-backed group Hezbollah in Lebanon, killing most of its senior leadership including Hassan Nasrallah. The U.S. also helped repel Iran’s firing of about 200 ballistic missiles.

The U.S. has since acknowledged that Israel must respond to that strike, and the retaliation is expected to happen at any time. But the administration has urged Netanyahu not to strike Iran’s energy infrastructure or nuclear facilities, worried that doing so will further escalate the conflict and pull in the U.S.

Relations between the two leaders were further clouded this week by revelations contained in a new book by journalist Bob Woodward set to be released next week. The book details Biden’s rising frustration with Netanyahu in the months since Hamas attacked Israel on Oct. 7, 2023, according to an account in the Washington Post, where Woodward is an associate editor.

According to the Post, Biden complained to his staff that Netanyahu is a “liar” only concerned about his own political survival. The U.S. has been attempting to organize a cease-fire in Israel’s war against Hamas in Gaza for several months without success.