President Joe Biden spoke directly with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Wednesday for the first time since August, despite the intensification of the war in Lebanon and an Iranian missile attack on Israel last week.
Biden has not made a secret of his dislike of the Israeli leader, and the White House was angered last month when Netanyahu ordered an airstrike that killed Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah, after Biden proposed a ceasefire.
Israeli officials were irritated by the Biden administration when the U.S. appeared to leak plans for Israel’s ground invasion of Lebanon last week. That, Israel said, justified Netanyahu’s reluctance to share military details with Biden.
The Israeli security cabinet reportedly decided that it would coordinate with the U.S. on its response to the Iranian missile attack. But there was no direct contact with the Biden administration, except through military channels.
The final straw happened earlier this week, when Israeli defense minister Yoav Gallant was to have departed for the U.S. for talks in Washington. Netanyahu ordered him to cancel the trip until Biden had agreed to speak with him.
Biden relented, and spoke with Netanyahu on Wednesday. According to the Times of Israel, the conversation lasted 50 minutes and included Vice President Kamala Harris, who is running to replace Biden in the upcoming election.
State Department Spokesman Matthew Miller said that Secretary of State Antony Blinken was also on the call. There was no immediate indication, either from the Israeli government or from the White House, about what was said.
Update: White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said that the call lasted 30 minutes, and that it was both “direct” and “productive.” She said that a readout of the call would be forthcoming from the White House.
Joel B. Pollak is Senior Editor-at-Large at Breitbart News and the host of Breitbart News Sunday on Sirius XM Patriot on Sunday evenings from 7 p.m. to 10 p.m. ET (4 p.m. to 7 p.m. PT). He is the author of The Agenda: What Trump Should Do in His First 100 Days, available for pre-order on Amazon. He is also the author of The Trumpian Virtues: The Lessons and Legacy of Donald Trump’s Presidency, now available on Audible. He is a winner of the 2018 Robert Novak Journalism Alumni Fellowship. Follow him on Twitter at @joelpollak.
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