Israel Is Making Joe Biden Look WEAK

Is Benjamin Netanyahu intentionally humiliating Joe Biden? Well, it sure seems like it. Last week, the Israeli Prime Minister said this. In the future, the state of Israel have to control on the entire area from the river to the sea. This is what happens when you have sovereignty. This truth I say to our American friends. And I also stopped the attempt to impose on us a reality that will jeopardize us. A prime minister in Israel has to be able to say no, even to the best of friends. Now, that clip should have been embarrassing to Joe Biden for two reasons. So first, Netanyahu was opposing a two state solution, which is the stated preference of the Americans. And second, Netanyahu was explicitly saying he is willing to ignore what Biden wants, right? He's willing to stand up to the Americans, even though the United States sends Israel billions in aid, right? But this whole situation got worse. It got a lot more embarrassing for the American president. Because following that clip going viral, lots of people watched it. Biden was asked about Netanyahu's comments by a White House reporter. Are you going to reconsider conditions on Israel aid given what Netanyahu said about a one state? I think we'll be able to work something out. What does that mean? How? There are a number of types of two state solutions. There's a number of countries that are members of the UN that are still, don't have their own militaries. A number of states that have limitations on them. And so I think there's ways in which this could work. But BBS said he's opposed to any two state solutions. Biden said that Netanyahu didn't actually oppose a Palestinian state and that he could suggest a state so weak and powerless that Netanyahu would agree to its creation. Unfortunately for Joe Biden, Bibi wasn't playing ball. And after those comments from Biden circulated, the Israeli prime minister tweeted this, I will not compromise on full Israeli security control over the entire area west of Jordan. And this is contrary to a Palestinian state. This is contrary to a Palestinian state. So that is a direct subtweet of Joe Biden. So Netanyahu gets up and says, we want it to be greater Israel from the river to the sea. Joe Biden's like, no, no, no, no, that's not what he said. He's happy to have a two state solution. We just have to give him the right kind of state. Netanyahu almost immediately goes to Twitter and says, I meant no Palestinian state. I was pretty clear. And this is publicly humiliating, essentially. The guy who is sending billions in aid to Israel over a long period of time, giving them full diplomatic cover in the UN. And he is just basically saying, we're going to do exactly what we want. And this is bad for Joe Biden, because Joe Biden has expended a lot of political capital defending what Israel are doing right now. Of course, it's not popular in American society to say, we're going to just completely leave Israel to fend for itself. The American public, more than publics in Europe, tend to be sympathetic to Israel. No one, I think, in America is saying, I'm going to vote for Joe Biden because he has been so gung-ho and let Netanyahu do whatever he wants, even when Netanyahu is completely ignoring Biden. This has massively caused Biden electoral problems for young voters, and also for Arab voters who, there's a lot of them in some key states, such as Michigan. So Joe Biden has paid a big political cost for his backing of Netanyahu. And Netanyahu seems to be actively trying to intervene in the next presidential election to make Biden lose. I don't know why Joe Biden is going along with this. It's also not the first time that Netanyahu has sort of tried to humiliate democratic presidents in this way, of the Democratic Party, I mean, in this way. When Obama was president, again, Obama didn't condition aid to Israel, very, very supportive of Israel, but he did sign a nuclear deal with Iran. Netanyahu went to Congress without telling Obama, gave this big speech, sort of really, really opposing Obama's policy. Now that was unheard of, sort of to have a friendly state come and speak to Congress to oppose a sitting president, right? Netanyahu did that to Obama. He's willing to do that to Joe Biden. And Joe Biden seems very happy to go along with it. It's just completely bizarre. But there is one man in America more subservient to Netanyahu than Joe Biden. And that's his national security spokesperson, John Kirby. Watch this and weep. Did the president address Netanyahu's use of the phrase, from the river to the sea, in their conversation today? I know the White House has previously said that phrase is divisive. I'm not aware that that specific phrase was discussed. Do you condemn him using that phrase? There's a connotation with that phrase. We've talked about this before. But when you use the phrase river to the sea, it speaks basically to the mantra of Hamas and in their manifesto, where they basically describe the geographic bounds of what they believe to be Palestine. And if you look at it on the map, if you go look at the four corners that they describe it, it's basically the state of Israel. They just don't believe it should exist. So again, it's not a phrase that we recommend using, given because of that context. But this wasn't Hamas, this was Netanyahu. I understand. I don't have anything more on that and I certainly don't have anything more on the conversation to read out with respect to that. That was just completely bizarre, right? So a reporter is asking John Kirby, and again, this isn't sort of like on a street corner, this is in an official press briefing by the National Security Council, sort of one of the highest national security bodies in the United States. And they said, Netanyahu has said he wants Israel to be from the river to the sea. Do you agree with that? And then John Kirby's like, well, we disagree with the phrase from the river to the sea because Hamas used that. We're not talking about Hamas, we're talking about the Israeli prime minister, who obviously means something very different to what Hamas means by this. I don't want to comment any further. Ash, why are Joe Biden and sort of John Kirby humiliating themselves to this degree in public when Netanyahu is not willing to give them any cover whatsoever? Netanyahu seems to just be sort of publicly putting up two fingers to them and they're happy to go along with it. Well, I think it's really important to try and understand Netanyahu. And I know I'm about to channel my inner Aaron Bastani, but to quote Sun Tzu, know yourself and know your enemy. You need not fear the results of a hundred battles. So let's get to know Benjamin Netanyahu. He is without a doubt the single most successful Israeli politician since the state was founded in 1948. I think he's won the most elections. He's been in power nearly continuously since the late 90s, I think maybe even the year 2000. And he has been highly successful in carrying out his main objective, which is prevent the foundation and the widespread recognition of a Palestinian state. He isn't a hugely successful politician. And in order to understand how he's achieved that, I think one of the things you've got to look at is the way in which he's positioned Israel with regards to America. Quite famously in some unguarded comments, he said, I know what America is. It is a thing that moves. And what Daniel Levy, the former Israeli peace negotiator told me is that the translation is more like, it is an easy thing to move, right? I know how to work this machine that is America. And I think that what he worked out was that yes, Israel is wholly dependent on American military aid in order to maintain its position in the Middle East while simultaneously denying sovereignty to the Palestinian people. But you still have leverage over America. So one is that America geopolitically relies on Israel, not just for its role in the Middle East, but also its historic relationship with Israel, with Mossad when it comes to Cold War era fighting, its role in sort of covertly operating with right wing militias across the world. Two, Israel, of course, buys an awful lot of military hardware, American produced weaponry, and so is a key customer when it comes to the American military industrial complex. And then the third bit of leverage that Israel has over America is, of course, the role of Israel's lobby in the United States. AIPAC is perhaps the most effective disciplining tool of democratic candidates that has ever existed. It will pour vast quantities of money into primary races. So you as a politician may well owe your entire career to AIPAC funding. And of course, if AIPAC deems that you are not sufficiently pro-Israel, they'll pour vast amounts of money into negative campaigning as well. So I think that Netanyahu has been able to judge American politics very, very shrewdly. And instead of going, okay, well, we're dependent on military aid. So that means when, you know, America says, please, can you stop expanding settlements or can you just ease off the bombing of Palestine a little bit? He's worked out that he's got the room to say no, because I'm willing to use this leverage that we have as a country. So Netanyahu is a very, very smart man. And I think that, you know, underestimate him at your peril. You often hear people say, oh, don't overstate the role of the Israel lobby in the United States. That's too conspiratorial. But I mean, seeing the president repeatedly sort of self-flagellate himself in front of the nation, and the Israeli prime minister sort of really just rub salt in the wound, and the Americans just keep saying, oh, no, okay, it's still fine, you know, not saying a bad word whatsoever about Israel, while Israel is basically like putting two fingers up to them. I mean, it doesn't allay any suspicions, does it?