President Biden and other senior U.S. officials are becoming increasingly frustrated with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his rejection of most of the administration's recent requests related to the war in Gaza, four U.S. officials with direct knowledge of the issue told Axios.
Why it matters: Since the Oct. 7 Hamas attack 100 days ago, Biden has given Israel his full backing, with unprecedented military and diplomatic support, even while taking a political hit from part of his base in an election year. That support has largely continued publicly, but behind the scenes, there are growing signs that Biden is losing his patience, the U.S. officials said.
- "The situation sucks and we are stuck. The president's patience is running out," one U.S. official told Axios.
- "At every juncture, Netanyahu has given Biden the finger," Sen. Chris Van Hollen (D-Md.), who has been in close contact with U.S. officials about the war, told Axios. "They are pleading with the Netanyahu coalition, but getting slapped in the face over and over again."
Behind the scenes: Biden hasn't spoken to Netanyahu in the 20 days since a tense Dec. 23 call, which a frustrated Biden ended with the words: "This conversation is over." They had spoken almost every other day in the first two months of the war.
- Before Biden hung up, Netanyahu had rejected his request that Israel release the Palestinian tax revenues it's withholding.
- National Security Council spokesperson John Kirby tried to downplay the decrease in communication, telling reporters on Wednesday that "it doesn't say anything" about the state of the relationship.
- But more and more signs of irritation are emerging. "There is immense frustration," a U.S. official said.
Do you have numbers showing that the levels of unemployed people not filing was dramatically different? If not, then this is meaninhless fud.
> If not, then this is meaninhless fud.
wrong. it's only meaningless "fud" if we do have the numbers and they don't support what i'm saying.
No, that's not how it works. If you're making some unsubstantiated claim, can't back it up, spreading negativity, then it's meaningless, anecdotal fud.
If you do have something to back it up, then it's not.
anecdotes aren't meaningless or fud
They aren't useful at all for making claims about large trends.
You were making claims about the full market. Stats or it didn't happen
you can see the u3 trends
huh. would you look at that?
i wonder what happened in march of 2020 to cause this!
https://kolektiva.social/system/media_attachments/files/111/761/663/868/357/809/original/390e1def2c785d9e.png
That doesn't show what I asked about or what you said.
oh my bad