President Joe Biden and Israel Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in Tel Aviv on Oct. 18, 2023. (Miriam Alster, Pool Photo, AFP via Getty Images/TNS)
President Joe Biden said there was reason for people to conclude Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is prolonging the war in Gaza due to his own political considerations and would not rule out deploying U.S. troops for the defense of Taiwan in an interview published Tuesday with Time Magazine.
The rare sit down between the president and a print outlet came weeks after former President Donald Trump - Biden’s general-election opponent - outlined his own second term vision in the newsweekly. That interview, in which Trump suggested state governments could monitor Americans’ pregnancies and vowed mass deportations, quickly became a flashpoint on the campaign trail.
Biden’s interview sheds light on his first term in office as well as some of the challenges he faces in a potential second term if he wins what polls show is a close race with Trump.
Asked if Netanyahu’s political considerations were driving the war, Biden said “there is every reason for people to draw that conclusion,” citing the domestic “blowback” the prime minister received ahead of the Israel-Hamas conflict by pushing to change Israel’s constitution, moves critics said would weaken democracy in the country.
“Whether he would change his position or not, it’s hard to say, but it has not been helpful,” Biden said.
Biden has sought to ramp up pressure on both Israel and Hamas to agree to a three-phase Gaza peace plan that would end the fighting and secure the release of hostages captured by Hamas, which is designated a terrorist group, during its Oct. 7 raid on Israel.
Netanyahu though faces pressure from far-right parties in his electoral coalition to continue the war until Hamas is rooted out from the Gaza Strip and the hostages are freed, complicating Biden’s efforts. The war has posed a political risk to Biden, with key parts of his coalition, including progressives and younger voters, frustrated by his support for Israel.
In the interview Biden acknowledged that Netanyahu is “under enormous pressure on the hostages,” adding that the Israeli leader is “prepared to do about anything to get the hostages back.”
Still Biden said a negotiated cease-fire was the best way to secure their release. “Both the Israelis desperately want a cease fire in order to get the hostages home. And it’s a way to begin to break the momentum,” he said.
Biden said Israel was investigating if its forces had committed war crimes, but added he did not believe the country had used starvation of civilians in Gaza as a war tactic.
The president also addressed U.S.-ties with China, ahead of an election in which relations between the world’s two largest economies will have a central focus and both candidates have sought to cast themselves as tough on Beijing.
Asked if China was meddling in the election and worries about the country deploying artificial intelligence to interfere in the vote, Biden said “there is evidence that meddling is going on.”
“I think China would have an interest - let me put it like this - would have an interest in meddling,” he added.
Biden’s comments threaten to upset warming ties between the two nations following the face-to-face meeting he held last year with Chinese President Xi Jinping. Even as Biden has ramped up dialogue with Beijing, the two nations have intensified their economic competition, highlighted by sweeping tariffs the U.S. president unveiled on a range of Chinese imports last month.
Biden, who has previously called China’s economy a “ticking time bomb” delivered another jab.
“You’ve got an economy that’s on the brink there. The idea that their economy is booming? Give me a break,” Biden said.
Taiwan has also been a focal point for tensions between Washington and Beijing. Biden has repeatedly said the U.S. would defend the democracy if its attacked, while China has pledged to bring Taiwan under its control eventually, by force if necessary.
Asked if he would place U.S. boots on the ground to defend Taiwan from a Chinese attack, Biden said “it would depend on the circumstances.” Biden said he had made it clear to Xi that there had been no change to U.S. policy and that Washington was not seeking independence for Taiwan but that he would also support the island if Beijing sought to unilaterally change its status.
“Not ruling out using U.S. military force. There’s a distinction between deploying on the ground, air power and naval power, etc.,” Biden said.
Biden also addressed Russia’s war in Ukraine, saying the Russian military had been “freaking decimated” in the fight. And he predicted that Russian President Vladimir Putin would seek to threaten other nations if he was successful in the war.
“If we ever let Ukraine go down, mark my words: you’ll see Poland go, and you’ll see all those nations along the actual border of Russia, from the Balkans and Belarus, all those, they’re going to make their own accommodations,” Biden said.
The president has made protecting democracy at home - and abroad - a centerpiece of his reelection pitch, contrasting his support for Ukraine with Trump who has been skeptical of aiding Kyiv.
“Name me a world leader other than Orban and Putin who think that Trump should be the world leader in the United States of America,” he said, referring to Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban.
