Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu finally got the meeting he’s been waiting for since the start of his current term as Israel’s head of state.
The prime minister met with President Joe Biden at the White House on Thursday afternoon, just about 24 hours after the Israeli leader appeared before a joint session of Congress to deliver what is widely acknowledged to have been his finest address ever, in the English language, receiving a record-breaking 58 standing ovations during his 56-minute remarks.
Before their meeting, which lasted approximately one and a half hours, the prime minister signed the guestbook in the Roosevelt Room.
The two men met in the Oval Office, where Netanyahu thanked the outgoing president for his decades-long service, a reprise of Netanyahu’s many expressions of appreciation for the 81-year-old president during Wednesday’s address. Then they got down to business after a brief statement to the media.
“Hello, welcome back, Mr. Prime Minister,” Biden said. “We’ve got a lot to talk about. I think we should get to it. The floor is yours.”
In response, Netanyahu said, “Mr. President, we’ve known each other for 40 years and you’ve known every Israeli prime minister for 50 years, from Golda Meir and on.
“So from a proud Jewish Zionist to a proud Irish American Zionist, I want to thank you for 50 years of public service and 50 years of support for the State of Israel. I look forward to the discussion with you today, and working with you in the months ahead on the great issues before us,” Netanyahu said.
“I look forward to it as well,” Biden replied. “By the way, that first meeting with the Prime Minister Golda Meir, she had an assistant sitting next to me, a guy named Rabin — that’s how far back it goes. I was only 12 then,” the president joked. “Anyway, thank you all for being here,” he told reporters before West Wing staff ushered them all out of the Oval Office.
Primary on the agenda is the issue of how and when to end the war in Gaza. “How to end this war, and how to get this six-week ceasefire in place… It’s time to end the war,” White House National Security spokesperson John Kirby told reporters at a briefing immediately following the photo op in the Oval Office.
Netanyahu has repeatedly said — as he did during his remarks to Congress — that he personally will not rest and Israel will not rest until all the hostages are returned home, and the capacity of Hamas to wage war against Israel and govern the Gaza Strip has been destroyed.
Another issue on the table is the “pause” on a shipment to Israel of 2,000-pound bombs, known as “bunker busters.” Kirby told reporters that the pause is still in place and until further notice, Israel will not receive those munitions. He maintained, however, that no other military shipments are being held up at this point.
A third issue to be discussed is “what more needs to be done” diplomatically in order to avert an all-out war between Israel and Iran’s proxy in Lebanon, Hezbollah, Kirby said. The terrorist proxy has launched multiple daily rocket, missile and explosive drone attacks at northern Israel since the start of the war launched by Hamas on October 7.
The president and the prime minister are to be joined after their meeting by the families of American hostages still being held captive by Hamas in Gaza, and some former hostages as well. Netanyahu is then expected to meet with Vice President Kamala Harris one-on-one as well.
