Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu brushed off President Joe Biden‘s comment last week that the country’s operations against Hamas terrorists in Gaza have been “over the top.”
Biden made the comments during a press conference defending his mental acuity on Thursday, and it marked his sharpest criticism of Israel since the war began in October. Netanyahu said on ABC News’s This Week on Sunday that he was unsure of what Biden meant but said he was appreciative of Biden’s support of Israel throughout the war.
“I appreciate President Biden’s support for Israel since the beginning of the war. I don’t know exactly what he meant by that, but put yourself in Israel’s shoes. We were attacked. Unprovoked attack, murderous attack on Oct. 7, the worst attack on Jewish people since the Holocaust,” Netanyahu said.
The Israeli prime minister also said that he believes the response from the Israel Defense Force has been appropriate.
“And let me tell you, I think we’ve responded in a way that goes after the terrorists and tries to minimize the civilian population in which the terrorists embed themselves and use them as human shields. We dropped thousands of fliers. We phone Palestinians in their homes. We ask them to leave. We give them safe corridors and safe zones,” Netanyahu added.
“So I think we’re doing the right thing. And let me tell you one other thing. We’re going to win this thing. Victory is within reach,” he continued.
Netanyahu went on to argue how the IDF is working to eliminate Hamas while keeping civilian deaths to a minimum.
When asked about his experience interacting with Biden, after a scathing report from Special Counsel Robert Hur questioned the president’s memory and mental acuity, Netanyahu praised Biden and said the two have had several “extended phone conversations.”
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“I’ve had more than a dozen phone conversations, extended phone conversations with President Biden. He also came on a visit to Israel during wartime, which was a historic first, and I found him very clear and very focused. We managed to agree on the war aims and on many things,” Netanyahu said
“Sometimes we had disagreements, but they weren’t borne of a lack of understanding on his part or on my part. So that’s what I can tell you. So I haven’t seen that since the war began,” he added.
