White House ‘confident’ Biden safe from Netanyahu speech

The National Security Adviser does not expect the Israeli PM to launch verbal attacks at the administration

The White House does not expect Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to attack President Joe Biden when he addresses the US Congress on Wednesday, National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan has said.

Senior US officials were reportedly concerned that the speech could include public jabs at the administration.

The US paused its delivery of 3,500 bombs to Israel in early May amid calls for West Jerusalem to scale back its assault on the densely-populated city of Rafah in southern Gaza. In June, Netanyahu publicly criticized Washington for “withholding weapons and ammunition to Israel” for several months, calling it “inconceivable.”

The Israeli leader could stage a “diplomatically complicated and politically dicey spectacle for a president running for reelection,” Politico reported in June.

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Talking at the Aspen Security Forum on Friday, Sullivan said he will not see the copy of the speech but expected Netanyahu to tell Biden “what he intends to say.” A “broad preview” given by Israeli officials indicated that the PM is “intending to reinforce a set of themes and arguments that are not at odds or in contradiction to our policy, American policy,” the official added.

Sullivan referenced Netanyahu’s 2015 address to Congress, when he blasted the Obama administration for its efforts to negotiate the Iran nuclear deal. The speech was criticized by then-House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi, who called it full of “condescension” and an “insult to the intelligence of the United States.”

“Our expectation is that his speech will be one that doesn’t look like 2015,” Sullivan said.

While US officials have publicly stated that they “do not know what [Netanyahu] is talking about,” privately, Biden’s team is reportedly “angry and shocked” at the prime minister’s “ingratitude,” with some officials describing him as “unhinged,” Axios reported.

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Last month, Reuters reported that since the start of the Israel-Hamas war, the US has provided Israel with a total of 14,000 of its 2,000-pound bombs, 6,500 500-pound bombs, 3,000 Hellfire missiles, and other munitions. Washington has also sent $6.5 billion in security assistance since October 7.

According to a Wall Street Journal report, the US proceeded with a transfer of $1 billion worth of arms for Israel in May, the same month it stopped the delivery of the bombs.

Israel declared war on Hamas after the militants killed around 1,200 people and took more than 200 hostages in a surprise attack on October 7. More than 38,000 Palestinians have been killed since then in the military operation, according to Gaza’s Health Ministry.