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Today's Paper | May 10, 2026

Published 28 Feb, 2024 11:25am

Biden administration frustrated with Netanyahu but ‘confrontation’ unlikely: analysis

Dov Waxman, a professor of Israel studies at the University of California, Los Angeles, told Al Jazeera the Biden administration has grown increasingly frustrated with the Israeli prime minister. But Netanyahu is unlikely to change course and heed the White House’s concerns over Gaza as surveys show many Americans support Israel’s incursion.

“I think part of this is just the mounting frustration that the administration feels towards Netanyahu, in particular, but it’s also, of course, with an eye to the fact that the presidential election is approaching… and the president has been taking a lot of criticism from the left wing of his party and from certain groups among the Democratic base to distance himself from Netanyahu and from Israel’s war in Gaza,” Waxman told Al Jazeera.

“Biden is already being pilloried on the left for his support for Netanyahu and this dispute really makes him look quite weak and unable to stand up to Prime Minister Netanyahu,” he said. “And it is telling that most American voters – both Democrats and Republicans – don’t approve, according to the surveys, of the way that President Biden’s been handling this war,” he added.

However, a falling out is unlikely between Biden and Netanyahu, he said.

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