Director and activist Michael Moore argued Wednesday that President Biden “has been played like a sucker” by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
“There’s no getting around the awful truth: The United States is the Bank that is funding and arming the slaughter of children in Gaza. Netanyahu is a war criminal. That makes us his accomplices. THIS MUST STOP. Biden has been played like a sucker,” Moore wrote in his newsletter.
Moore’s newsletter comes just days after Israel’s military said it had recovered the bodies of six hostages in Gaza, including an Israeli American, Hersh Goldberg-Polin, of Berkeley, Calif.
Netanyahu is seeking forgiveness from the families of the six hostages since his military was unable to “bring them back alive.” They were killed by Hamas in an underground tunnel shortly before the Israeli military reached them.
Tens of thousands of protesters poured into the streets of Israel demanding Netanyahu reach a cease-fire with Hamas, nearly 11 months after the war in Gaza began.
President Biden said Netanyahu is not doing enough to secure a hostage deal, adding pressure to Netanyahu and his government after their bodies were found. Biden said they were “very close” to having mediators present a final hostage deal this week.
Biden’s frustrations with Netanyahu have seemingly grown since the spring, when he changed his tune on the ongoing war and began to strongly urge his Israeli counterpart to reach a deal.
Moore argued Netanyahu thinks America is a thing that can be moved “very easily,” writing that Netanyahu has “taken advantage of a weakened Biden to commit his crimes."
With Vice President Harris on top of the Democratic Party’s ticket for the upcoming election, all eyes are on how she would handle the ongoing conflict in the Middle East. She’s said that “now is the time” for a cease-fire, though has largely avoided talking about Gaza.
Moore had a message for Harris: “Find some way to step out from this darkness. Be the voice of humanity. Show the world your moral courage. Your compassion.”
“You said we’re not going back. Supporting the daily murder of children is not going forward. It’s the same old story of men and their military-industrial complex getting rich off war,” Moore wrote. “Of bullies occupying another people’s land — and claiming the Bible told them to do it! What year is this? 1254 AD?”
“Forward. WAY Forward,” he concluded. “Please.”
