Multiple Israeli leaders have condemned comments made by a right-wing Israeli politician who alleged the country would receive more U.S. support if former President Donald Trump were in office, as opposed to President Joe Biden.
National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir, a key member of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s governing coalition, told the Wall Street Journal in an interview published over the weekend that Biden “is busy with giving humanitarian aid and fuel” to Gaza “instead of giving us his full backing.”
“If Trump was in power, the U.S. conduct would be completely different,” he said.
Ben-Gvir has leverage over Netanyahu because without his party’s participation, the Israeli prime minister’s coalition would no longer have the governing majority, which would force a new election.
“The interview Ben Gvir gave to the Wall Street Journal is direct damage to Israel’s international standing, direct damage to the war effort, harms the security of Israel and mostly proves that he doesn’t understand anything in foreign diplomacy,” Opposition Leader Yair Lapid said. “But Netanyahu has no control over the extremists in his government.”
Similarly, Minister Benny Gantz said: “The prime minister should call the national security minister to order, who instead of dealing with domestic security issues is causing enormous damage to the the foreign relations of Israel.”
In the days that followed the Oct. 7 attack, Trump accused Netanyahu of “letting him down,” and he called Defense Minister Yoav Gallant a “jerk,” though, during his tenure, he made several pro-Israel policy decisions, including moving the U.S. Embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem.
Ben-Gvir’s hard-line positions on how Israel should conduct its war in Gaza against Hamas have repeatedly resulted in condemnation domestically and internationally, even as support for his party has seemingly increased during the conflict, according to the WSJ.
Polls show that if elections were held right now, Ben-Gvir’s Jewish Power party would increase the number of its seats in the 120-seat parliament, known as the Knesset, from six to eight or nine, while Netanyahu’s Likud party would reduce its seats from 32 to anywhere between 19 and 27.
One of Ben-Gvir’s controversial stances is that Israel should push Palestinians out of Gaza with a financial incentive so that Israeli settlements can be rebuilt in the enclave. Israel removed previous settlements in Gaza in 2005, prior to Hamas coming into power.
His plan is to “encourage Gazans to voluntarily emigrate to places around the world” by offering them cash incentives, which he said is “the real humanitarian” thing to do.
Both the United States and several Arab nations have vociferously argued against the resettlement of Palestinians outside of Gaza, while the Biden administration has repeatedly maintained it does not support the reduction of Palestinian territory in Gaza or the displacement of Palestinians.
Biden has largely supported Israel’s right to defend itself following the Hamas-led Oct. 7 terrorist attacks in Israel, the most deadly attack in the country’s history. He and administration officials have repeatedly urged Israel to do more to prevent the killings of Palestinian civilians, though it’s unclear how much Israel is heeding those warnings.
Biden’s polling numbers, both domestically and within his own party, have taken a hit as he continues to support Israel. He has also not pushed Israel to agree to a ceasefire deal that would leave Hamas in power in Gaza, while Hamas officials have said they would repeat the Oct. 7 attacks.
The Biden administration supports Palestinian statehood and has backed a revitalized Palestinian Authority, which is in power in the West Bank, to assume governing authorities over the strip following the conclusion of the war, but Netanyahu has rebuffed both stances.
Israel “must have security control over the entire territory west of the Jordan [River],” Netanyahu said last month, referencing what’s currently Israel and Gaza, which are west of the Jordan River and east of the Mediterranean Sea. “This clashes with the idea of sovereignty. What can you do?”
The war in Gaza is on the verge of its four-month anniversary. In that time, Israel has largely decimated Gaza’s infrastructure and forced an overwhelming percentage of Palestinians to flee their homes in the hopes of avoiding being killed in the war. Tens of thousands of people have died, while Israel has said it believes the country has killed thousands of Hamas fighters.
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The war has led to a significant lack of essential resources for Palestinian civilians, many of whom are facing the threat of starvation and disease from lack of food and clean water.
More than 100 people remain held hostage by Hamas in Gaza, who are also at risk of being killed in the war. There was a temporary ceasefire in November in which more than 100 hostages were released, and both sides are trying (with the help of the U.S., Egyptian, and Qatari governments) to come to another agreement, though both sides remain hardened on their sticking points.
