WASHINGTON: Joe Biden and Benjamin Netanyahu agreed Wednesday to stay in “close contact” as Israel mulls its response to Iran, with the US leader also urging the Israeli premier to “minimize” harm to civilians in Lebanon, the White House said.
Biden and Netanyahu’s call was their first in nearly two months and came amid mounting pressure from Washington not to strike Iran’s oil or nuclear facilities less than four weeks before the US presidential election.
The conversation was the first time Biden and Netanyahu had spoken since August. In the weeks since then, Israel has launched a massive campaign to target the Iran-backed group Hezbollah in Lebanon, killing most of its senior leadership including Hassan Nasrallah as well as at least 1,500 people in air strikes. Iran fired about 200 ballistic missiles in response, which the US helped to defend against.
The US has since acknowledged that Israel must respond to the strike from Tehran, and the retaliation is expected to happen at any time. But the administration has urged Netanyahu not to attack Iran’s energy infrastructure or nuclear facilities, worried that doing so will further escalate the conflict and pull in the US.
The call with Biden was scheduled after Netanyahu intervened to cancel a visit to the US by Israel’s defense chief, Yoav Gallant, that was seen as a chance to coordinate the response to Iran with Washington. Instead, Gallant delivered a tough message Wednesday in remarks to Israeli intelligence forces.
“Iran’s attacks on Israel were aggressive, but failed because they were not precise,” ‘ Gallant said. “Our attack on Iran will be deadly, precise and above all surprising. They will not understand what happened and how it happened. They will see the results.”
A White House readout of the call did not directly mention possible retaliation for an Iranian missile strike on Israel last week but said Biden had condemned Tehran’s attack “unequivocally” and pledged “ironclad” support for Israel.
Biden and Netanyahu “agreed to remain in close contact over the coming days, both directly and through their national security teams,” the readout said, adding that Vice President and Democratic presidential nominee Kamala Harris also joined the call.
Offensive against Hezbollah
Biden and Netanyahu also discussed Israel’s offensive against Iranian ally Hezbollah in Lebanon, the White House said.
The US president “reaffirmed” Israel’s right to defend itself against Hezbollah rocket attacks “while emphasizing the need to minimize harm to civilians, in particular in the densely populated areas of Beirut,” it said.
Netanyahu had warned earlier Wednesday that Lebanon faced “destruction” like that in the Palestinian territory of Gaza, which has been under relentless bombardment since Hamas’s October 7, 2023 attacks on Israel.
On Gaza, the two leaders also “discussed the urgent need to renew diplomacy to release the hostages held by Hamas.”
The White House had earlier described the call lasting around 30 minutes as “direct,” “honest” and “productive.”
“The US and the Israeli government have had discussions since last week since after the Iran attack. Those discussions continued with the president and the prime minister,” Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said.
“We’re going to continue to have those discussions with Israel on how they’re going to respond.”
Jean-Pierre also reacted to Netanyahu’s comments on Lebanon, saying: “We cannot and will not see Lebanon turn into another Gaza.”
But she would not comment on a new book by veteran US journalist Bob Woodward detailing growing tensions between Biden and Netanyahu.
Biden had told Netanyahu in July that “the perception of Israel around the world increasingly is that you’re a rogue state, a rogue actor,” The New York Times reported the book as saying.
