White House rejects Biden, national security aide's outspoken comments on Israel – Winnipeg Free Press

WASHINGTON (AP) — The White House on Friday sought to play down sharp criticism of Israel from President Joe Biden and a top national security official over how Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's government has waged Israel's four-month war to root out Hamas militants. From Gaza.

Speaking to reporters Thursday evening, Biden called Israel's military operations in Gaza “supreme” and said the suffering of innocent people “must stop.” While Biden has previously expressed concern over the growing Palestinian civilian toll — more than 27,000 have been killed in Gaza since the conflict began — his direct criticism of the Israelis has been muted.

The New York Times reported on Friday that the president's deputy national security adviser, John Finer, received a memo expressing “no confidence” in Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's right-wing government during a meeting with Arab Americans. Muslim community leaders this week. The White House's National Security Council confirmed that Finer's comments to the Times were correct.

An administration official told The Associated Press that Finer was referring to the Netanyahu government's commitment to pursuing a two-state solution in which Israel coexists with an independent Palestinian state after the war. Throughout his political career, Netanyahu has consistently opposed the creation of a Palestinian state.

“The president and Mr. Finer reflected on our concerns that we have had for some time and the need to minimize Palestinian casualties and civilian casualties in this conflict as the Israeli operation continues,” a National Security Council spokesman said. Adrienne Watson said in a statement. “The president has said from the first days of this conflict that we share the goal of defeating Hamas, but that Israel must minimize the impact of its operation on innocent civilians as much as possible.”

In the memo, Finer also spoke of the Biden administration's “missteps” and lamented that the administration “left a very damaging impression” at the start of the war with “totally inadequate public accounting of how much money the president, administration and board have spent.” the country values ​​Palestinian lives.”

The comments appear to reflect growing frustration in the White House over the conflict that erupted after Hamas militants attacked Israel on October 7, killing 1,200 people and taking nearly 250 hostages. Past lulls in fighting have resulted in the release of mostly women and children captured by Hamas, but US authorities believe more than 100 are still being held captive.

On Thursday, Biden said he had not given up trying to get the two sides to agree to a long pause in the fighting to facilitate the release of the remaining hostages.

However, Hamas has demanded that Israel release hundreds of Palestinian prisoners and end the fighting as part of a hostage deal. Netanyahu refused to agree to these terms.

Biden said he still hoped a deal could be reached that would pave the way for an end to the war.

“I'm pushing very hard right now to end this hostage crisis,” Biden said. “I worked tirelessly on this deal.”

Biden sent Finer and other senior aides to Michigan on Thursday to meet with leaders of the Arab American and Muslim communities as his administration seeks to bridge a 2024 battleground state battleground state.

Among the administration officials on the Michigan trip were Samantha Power, head of the US Agency for International Development, Steven Benjamin, director of the Office of Public Affairs, and Tom Perez, director of the Office of Intergovernmental Affairs.