Biden’s close ally says Netanyahu isn’t aligned with Middle East peace quest

President Joe Biden’s reelection campaign co-chairman portrayed Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu as an obstacle to peace in the Middle East and suggested he’s wrong to reject calls by the US and Arab countries for movement toward a Palestinian state.

“This wouldn’t be the first time that there is some tension between Prime Minister Netanyahu, his personal, political goals and aims, and the challenges of crafting a positive, peaceful path forward for the Israeli and Palestinian people,” Chris Coons, a US senator from Delaware who’s a close ally of Biden, said on CNN’s State of the Union.

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Coons’ comments also hint at tension between Biden and Netanyahu, who spoke on Friday for the first time in almost four weeks. A day earlier, Netanyahu dismissed US calls to position the Palestinian Authority for eventual control of postwar Gaza, saying an Israeli leader must be able to oppose even “the closest of friends.”

Netanyahu’ comments vowing to maintain Israeli control over the West Bank and Gaza Strip for the foreseeable future after the war prompted a rebuke by the US State Department.

Netanyahu has a history of weakening the Palestinian Authority in the West Bank and accepting Iranian-backed Hamas as rulers of Gaza, which had “tragic consequences when Hamas militants at-tacked Israel on October 7,” Coons said. That attack prompted an Israeli military assault on Gaza with the declared goal of wiping out Hamas, which the US and the European Union have designated a terror group.

Civilian casualties and suffering in Gaza have prompted outrage in Arab countries, increasingly sharp calls for Israeli restraint among US allies and divisions in the US that have played out in election-year politics, at elite universities and in the streets. At the same time, the Biden administration has backed Israel’s right to self-defense against Hamas.

“This is a moment where the Israeli public needs to choose what is the best path forward,” Coons said. “And I know it would be a significant step for them to accept that the creation of a Palestinian state is the right path forward.”

Biden’s call with Netanyahu wasn’t a direct response to his dismissal of Palestinian statehood, John Kirby, spokesman for the National Security Council at the White House, said Friday.

Biden “still believes in the promise in the possibility of a two-state solution,” which will require hard work and “a lot of leadership in the region,” Kirby said.

Hamas’s attack in southern Israel killed about 1,200 people. Israel’s counterstrikes have killed more than 25,000 people in the Gaza Strip, according to the Hamas-run health ministry.

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