Israeli source slams Biden as 'insolent' over extremist remarks

By Al Mayadeen English
Source: Agencies
9 Jul 2023 23:20

Shortly after US President Joe Biden said Netanayhu's government includes some "of the most extreme members" he's ever seen in, Ben-Gvir wonders what makes him an extremist.

Police Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir (AFP via Getty Images)

Israeli Channel 13 confirmed, this Sunday evening, that an Israeli source close to the Netanyahu government described Biden as "insolent", saying that "even (former president Barack) Obama did not speak this way.”

On his part, Police Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir responded to Biden, saying that "President Biden should understand that we are no longer a star on the American flag."

"How exactly am I extreme? Because I think the citizens of Israel should defend themselves?," he added.

This came in response to Biden's remarks during which he said that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s coalition government has some “of the most extreme members he’s seen in Israel" and that "Israel" is “part of the problem [in the West Bank] — particularly those individuals in the [Israeli] cabinet who say… 'we can settle anywhere we want, [and the Palestinians] have no right to be here,'" with several Israeli media outlets saying he was referring here to Ben-Gvir and Smotrich.

When Biden was asked during an exclusive interview for CNN on Sunday if the White House would invite Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu for a visit, he said President Isaac Herzog is already planning to come soon.

A rare public exchange took place between Benjamin Netanyahu and #JoeBiden which signaled rising tension between "Israel" and the US, two close allies, over the Israeli Prime Minister's judicial reforms. pic.twitter.com/6OoTpgq6KR
— Al Mayadeen English (@MayadeenEnglish) March 29, 2023

Biden told CNN that he is still convinced a "two-state solution" is what would set forth a peace settlement between "Israel" and Palestine.

Additionally, he said that some of Netanyahu’s cabinet members are too extreme with regard to their approach to illegal settlements in the West Bank, as reported by Reuters and several Israeli media.

Last May, Israeli Minister Yariv Levin accused the US administration of collaborating with Israeli protesters against the Israeli government's plan for judicial reform. In a video released by the Walla! website, Levin can be heard saying during a dinner with "ultra-Orthodox activists" that "the Americans are working in cooperation with them against (judicial reform)."

The accusations come amid protests in occupied Palestine, with Israeli occupation police officers taking drastic measures to violently disperse the protesters.

In March, US media reported that the US government has been funding protests in "Israel" through the Movement for Quality Government group.

US-Israeli relations have deteriorated to reach an all-time worst three months after Netanyahu assumed office, as per a recent report by Axios.

In the same context, Foreign Policy considered that "the US-Israel relationship no longer makes sense," while the Israeli Haaretz newspaper published an article by writer and political advisor Alon Pinkas, in which he spoke about American dissatisfaction with Netanyahu and the measures followed by "Israel".

It is worth noting that the White House has long been weary of Netanyahu’s decisions and appointments for ministerial posts, judicial plan, and settlement expansion, however, the latter chose to brush off these concerns.

This is all happening as protests are still consuming the Israeli occupation at the internal, political, and security establishment levels against the Netanyahu government and its plan for a judicial overhaul that widened the rift in the Israeli occupation.