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Biden: There’s a lot I wish I’d been able to convince Israelis to do
Biden, in a high-stakes, nearly hour-long news conference aimed at repudiating doubters of his reelection bid, acknowledged concerns about Israeli actions despite his overall support for the US ally.
“There’s a lot of things in retrospect I wish I had been able to convince the Israelis to do, but the bottom line is we have a chance now. It’s time to end this war,” he said after a NATO summit in Washington.
Biden acknowledged there remained “difficult, complex issues” between Israel and Hamas.
“There are still gaps to close. We’re making progress,” Biden said.
“The trend is positive, and I’m determined to get this deal done and bring an end to this war, which should end now,” he said.
Biden more than a month ago laid out a plan in which Israel would temporarily halt its offensive in Gaza and Palestinian fighters would release captives, setting the stage for talks for a permanent end to the devastating nine-month war.
Hamas came back with counterproposals and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has faced pushback from some of his hard-right cabinet
allies.
Biden threw his support behind Israel after the October 7 attack by Hamas which resulted in the deaths of 1,195 people.
Israel responded with a military offensive that has killed at least 38,345 people in Gaza, also mostly civilians, according to figures from Gaza health ministry.
Biden, 81, recalled his meeting a half-century ago as a young senator with Israeli prime minister Golda Meir -- and acknowledged that times have changed.
“We pushed it really hard, and Israel occasionally was less than cooperative,” Biden said of Netanyahu’s cabinet.
“This war cabinet is one of the most conservative war cabinets in the history of Israel, and there’s no ultimate answer other than a two-state solution here,” he said.
Biden also stood firm on his decision to hold up delivery of massive 2,000-pound bombs, even as his administration moves forward on other munitions.
“I’m not providing the 2,000-pound bombs. They cannot be used in Gaza or any populated area without causing great human tragedy and damage,” Biden said.
He again pressed Israel for a “day-after” plan for the war’s end and spoke of his diplomacy to persuade Arab states to help with security.
“At the end of the day, there has to be no occupation by Israel in the Gaza Strip,” Biden said.