“Biden is pissed. The temperature regarding Bibi is very high,” a U.S. official told Axios. That’s probably because his wife, first lady Jill Biden, is telling him behind closed doors that he needs to end the conflict as his likelihood of reelection dwindles. According to the New York Times, Biden said during a meeting with Muslim community leaders at the White House on Tuesday that the first lady is giving him pressure to call for an end to Israel’s military operations in Gaza against Hamas, despite the fact that the terror group is responsible for killing over 1,200 people in Israel on October 7.
Biden was responding to an attendee who claimed his wife didn’t want him to go to the meeting because of Biden’s support for Israel’s war, according to NYT. Biden told him that he understood, noting that Jill had told him to “Stop it now, Joe,” Salima Suswell, another attendee at the meeting, told the outlet.
The Daily Caller News Foundation writes that the White House told the NYT there was no disagreement between Biden and the first lady over the war, saying that both were equally angered by the civilian casualties sustained in Gaza. The first lady was not telling Biden to call for a full end to Israel’s counteroffensive efforts, the White House said.
“Just like the president, the first lady is heartbroken over the attacks on aid workers and the ongoing loss of innocent lives in Gaza. They both want Israel to do more to protect civilians,” Elizabeth Alexander, Jill Biden’s communications director, told the NYT.
Then on Thursday, President Biden demanded a ceasefire in Gaza during a phone call with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. The Foreign Desk News writes the President emphasized that further United States support would require the implementation of additional protections for civilians and humanitarian service providers.
During the 30-minute call, described by Axios as ‘tense,’ the White House said that Biden “made clear that U.S. policy with respect to Gaza will be determined by our assessment of Israel’s immediate action on these steps.”
Secretary of State Antony Blinken backed the President’s new measures, telling reporters at a NATO meeting in Brussels that “if we don’t see the changes that we need to see, there will be changes in our own policy.”