President Biden has called Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu an “a–hole” on several occasions — griping that the PM is “giving him hell” during Israel’s invasion of Gaza, a new report says.
Biden, who also called Netanyahu a “f–king bad guy,” according to a previous report, laughed off a question about the mounting tension Monday afternoon as he welcomed Jordanian King Abdullah II to the White House.
“Is Netanyahu taking your advice?” a reporter shouted as Biden stood beneath the North Portico awaiting the king.
“Everybody does,” Biden repolied, grinning.
The 81-year-old US president — whose re-election campaign is imperiled in critical swing states by opposition to Netanyahu’s war against Hamas — has said in private conversations, including with party donors, that the Israeli leader has been hammering him over the White House’s criticism of aspects of Israel’s assault, NBC reported.
Biden called Netanyahu an “a–hole” on at least three occasions, multiple sources told the outlet.
A source said Biden has had enough of the war as Israel reportedly crafts plans to clear out Hamas’ final bastion of control in Rafah near the Egyptian border, a ground invasion that would require relocating many of the territory’s roughly 2 million inhabitants, who fled south after earlier Israeli operations.
The White House has publicly said for months that Biden opposes the immediate and permanent cease-fire demanded by Hamas after the Palestinian terror group’s Oct. 7 surprise attack in Israel launched the war — although aides note that the president welcomes briefer humanitarian pauses in the conflict.
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President Biden, seen greeting Benjamin Netanyahu in Israel in October, reportedly called the Israeli leader an “a–hole” repeatedly behind closed doors. AP
But a source told NBC that Biden “just feels like this is enough” and that the war “has to stop.”
Biden said in explosive public comments Thursday that the Israeli operation was “over the top.”
The Hamas-run Gaza Health Ministry says more than 28,000 people have died during the war sparked by the October massacre in which terrorists killed about 1,200 people in southern Israel and kidnapped about 250 others.
As of last week, the White House said it believes “about six” US citizens remain among the captives held by Hamas.
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Biden said Thursday that Israel’s operations in Gaza are “over the top.” Getty Images
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Displaced Palestinians walk to get food rations at a makeshift tent camp in Rafah in the southern Gaza Strip on Feb. 2. AFP via Getty Images
Biden’s support for Israel has been assailed by large gatherings of protesters chanting “Genocide Joe” in major US cities, including outside the White House, and his public remarks are routinely interrupted by similar heckling.
Polls show that younger voters, Arab Americans and Muslim Americans opposed Biden’s prior affirmations of Israel in the conflict, and some surveys indicate that the latter groups could abandon Biden in droves in the November election, in which the president is expected to face a rematch against former President Donald Trump.
The White House did not respond to The Post’s request for comment on Monday’s ABC report.
But the National Security Council did not specifically dispute Biden’s use of the word in a statement to NBC, saying, “The president has been clear where he disagrees with Prime Minister Netanyahu, but this is a decades-long relationship that is respectful in public and in private.”
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