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US President Joe Biden reportedly called Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu a "*f@#king* liar" following the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) operation in Rafah in May, and shouted at the premier after an Israeli Air Force strike killed a top Hezbollah commander, according to an upcoming book by American journalist Bob Woodward.
The relationship between the two leaders became increasingly tense during the spring of 2024, according to CNN, which obtained an advance copy of the book, titled 'War'.
According to the reported excerpts from the book, during an April phone call, Biden questioned Netanyahu, asking, "What's your strategy, man?" and Netanyahu responded that Israel had to enter Rafah, the Gaza-Egypt border city that the IDF said had become Hamas' last stronghold in Gaza.
"Bibi (Netanyahu's nickname), you've got no strategy," Biden reportedly replied. He also accused Netanyahu of caring only about himself and not Hamas, the Palestinian militant group that attacked Israel on October 7, 2023, leaving nearly 1,200 Israelis dead and taking away 250 hostages. Woodward further claims that Biden believed Netanyahu "doesn't give a damn" about Hamas.
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In May, Israeli forces entered the city of Rafah, in southern Gaza, in what the IDF called a limited operation, after months of warnings from the White House.
After Israeli forces captured a strategically significant hill in Rafah later that month, the White House stated that the US did not consider Israel's actions in Rafah to constitute a "major ground operation" that could cross a red line for President Biden and lead to a potential shift in US policy.
Biden had previously warned that he would limit arms supplies to Israel if the IDF entered the "population centres" of Rafah, where hundreds of thousands of civilians were sheltering due to Israel's war in Gaza in the wake of the October 7 attack.
Since last year's Hamas attack, the worst in the country's history, Israel's military operations and strikes in Gaza, which it says are meant to uproot Hamas, have killed nearly 42,000, a little over half of them women and children, and wounded over 96,000, according to Palestinian health officials.
As explained by the Times of Israel, Biden's relationship with Netanyahu has been rocky during their time in office. Despite knowing each other for decades, the White House was critical when Netanyahu formed a coalition with far-right figures in 2022 and expressed concern over his government's judicial overhaul plans in 2023.
Biden became the first sitting US president to visit Israel during wartime in October 2023, landing in Tel Aviv on October 18 to express solidarity with the country and its people. However, in the past year, the two leaders have sparred, both publicly and privately, over Netanyahu's handling of the war and ongoing hostage negotiations.
Following Israel's entry into Rafah, Biden reportedly remarked, "He's (Netanyahu) a *f@#king* liar.”
"That *son of a b@#ch*, Bibi Netanyahu, he's a bad guy,” Biden is quoted as saying privately in Woodward's book. "He's a bad *f@#king* guy!"
Earlier, Politico had reported in February that Biden had been using this phrase to refer to Netanyahu, though the White House quickly issued a denial.
In April, Israel allegedly assassinated two generals from Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps in an Iranian consular annex in Damascus, Syria. After the US and its allies helped intercept most of the missiles Iran fired in response, Biden reportedly urged Netanyahu to refrain from retaliating, advising him to "take the win".
According to Woodward's book, Biden considered Israel's limited response to Iran's April missile and drone attack a success, telling his advisers, "I know he's going to do something, but the way I limit it is tell him to 'Do nothing.'"
After Israeli forces killed Fuad Shukr, the top military commander of the Iran-backed Lebanese militant group Hezbollah, in an airstrike in Beirut in July, "Bibi, what the *f@#k*?" Biden reportedly yelled in his next conversation with Netanyahu. "You know the perception of Israel around the world increasingly is that you're a rogue state, a rogue actor."
Hezbollah began firing rockets at Israel on October 8, 2023, in support of Hamas. About 60,000 residents also had to be evacuated from Israel's northern towns on the Lebanon border shortly after the October 7 attack, out of fear that Hezbollah would carry out a similar assault.
Having decided last month to make the return of northern residents to their homes an official war aim, Israel has intensified its operations to weaken Hezbollah. In a major blow, in September 2024, Hezbollah's leader, Hassan Nasrallah, was killed in an Israeli airstrike on Beirut.
Israel recently expanded its ground operation in Lebanon, which was launched last week with the Israeli army saying that the ground offensive would involve "limited, localised and targeted raids" against Hezbollah.
Woodward, the author of the book, is best known for his investigative work on the Watergate scandal in 1972, which ultimately led to US President Richard Nixon's resignation.
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