Tibi to ‘Newsweek’: Biden’s inability to rein in Israelis is ‘embarrassing’
US President Joe Biden’s inability to reign in Israel in its war against Hamas in Gaza is “embarrassing,” HadashTa’al MK Ahmad Tibi said in an interview with Newsweek published on Sunday.
“I think that Biden and the US administration can stop the war. They can, because they directed the situation from the very beginning. Secretary Blinken took part more than once in cabinet sessions. They were part of managing the war,” Newsweek quoted Tibi as saying.
The US is still describing what is being done in Gaza – after 30,000 Palestinians were killed – as ‘self-defense.’ It is not. As many in the States have said, it is not proportional. It’s much more than that,” Newsweek quoted Tibi as saying.
Tibi argued in the interview that Biden had given up on promises he made after a visit to Israel in November that “Palestinian aspirations” would determine the future of the Gaza Strip.
“I don’t believe there is one Palestinian who believes those statements of President Biden about ‘the day after’. In the last two months, talking about the day after, Netanyahu blocked President Biden. It’s embarrassing,” Tibi said.
Tibi gave several examples of Israel successfully getting its way despite American intervention on behalf of Palestinians and charged that the US president did not view Israelis and Palestinians equally.
“President Biden is dealing in a very discriminatory way about the value of Israelis versus Palestinians. We do believe that children are equal if they are Israelis, or if they are Palestinians. We are against killing Israeli civilians, and we are against killing Palestinian civilians,” Tibi told Newsweek.
While Tibi’s views on the US are far removed from all of the Jewish Israeli parties, including those in the opposition, he agrees with fellow politicians from the opposition that the problems start at the very top.
“The most important issue on ‘the day after’ is the day after Netanyahu,” Tibi said.
“[Netanyahu] is responsible for the Israeli failure of October 7, he is responsible for the loss of 1,200 Israelis – part of whom were civilians, women, and children. People in Israel feel that the government of Israel left them without defense, unprotected, because they sent forces of the army to the West Bank to protect settlers...The priorities of this fascist government are very much obvious.”
Tibi’s criticism of Biden came on the same day that far-right National Security Minister MK Itamar Ben-Gvir also criticized the president – from the opposite direction – arguing in an interview with The Wall Street Journal that the president was doing too much to help the Palestinians in Gaza since the humanitarian aid for Gazans was ending up in the hands of Hamas.
While Ben-Gvir’s remarks were widely condemned, Tibi’s comments did not receive much attention.