Joe Gave Up on Bibi, From “Ilove You Bibi” To Asshole
POLITICO illustration/Photos by Getty Images; iStock | ||
For decades, President Joe Biden has been building a relationship with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who has referred to him as a “close personal friend” in the past. But in recent weeks, that friendship has seemed to be on the rocks. “After months of Netanyahu openly defying Biden’s calls for restraint in Gaza, the president launched an unprecedented and very public pressure campaign,” writes Michael Hirsh in this week’s Friday Read. He’s hit Israeli settlements with sanctions, suggested that military aid to Israel should be tied to humanitarian aid, said publicly that Netanyahu is “hurting Israel more than helping Israel” and said privately that the man is an “asshole.” “Above all,” Hirsh writes, “Biden and his top officials, Secretary of State Antony Blinken and National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan, have grown increasingly frustrated that Netanyahu and his war cabinet seem to have no future vision for Gaza other than to slaughter a lot more Palestinians.” How will the Biden/Bibi breakup impact the war on Gaza and American politics? | ||
“You’re tired of him — what about me? I have to deal with him every day.” Can you guess who said this about Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in 2011? Scroll to the bottom for the answer.** | ||
Pedestrians pass alongside the C&O Canal in the Georgetown neighborhood of Washington, D.C., on Jan. 11, 2020. | Amanda Andrade-Rhoades for The Washington Post via Getty Images | ||
Why Local DC Hates the Most Popular Federal Agency … For most cities, how to manage neighborhood parks and green spaces is a local-yokel matter. But nothing is so simple in D.C. Want to turn that patch at the end of the block into a dog park? Set up a bocce ball game? You’ll have to go through the National Park Service, which controls 90 percent of open space in the city. And you might just find that the noble conservationism that guides the NPS in Yellowstone doesn’t transfer so well to downtown Washington. “It makes for an absolutely rotten way to run either a big city or a high-profile government agency,” writes Michael Schaffer in this week’s Capital City column, “especially at a time when local and federal bigwigs are all trying to bring downtown D.C. back from its post-Covid desolation.” | ||
Nothing says we’ve reached the general election like reversals of conventional wisdom. The opening two weeks since Super Tuesday of the rematch between Donald Trump and Joe Biden have brought no shortage of such reversals, from Trump’s bleak fundraising and lack of rallies to Biden’s uptick in polls. Drop these lines into conversation and you’ll sound like a savvy campaign reporter. (From POLITICO’s Adam Wren) - Mention that since Super Tuesday, Trump has visited only two states while Biden has visited eight. - Read the tea leaves and tell your friends that Trump could continue to consolidate gains with Black and Latino voters. - Ask a friend or colleague to evaluate the Biden campaign’s new nickname for Trump: “Broke Don.” And then ask: Can you believe Biden and the DNC hold a $41 million cash advantage over Trump? - Pay close attention to what more Republicans and the Trump campaign will cut from their meager budgets — advance staff? more rallies? — to make ends meet in the coming months. | ||
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Pro-abortion rights activists demonstrate near an anti-abortion rights group outside of the U.S. Supreme Court Building on June 21, 2022, in Washington, D.C. | Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images | ||
When Does Life Really Begin? … The Christian conservative case against abortion — arguably one of the most politically consequential religious beliefs in American life — is founded on the idea that “life begins at conception.” It’s such a fundamental part of the anti-abortion movement that it feels like a timeless aspect of Christian thought. “But it’s not,” argues Bradley Onishi. “The idea that life begins at conception is neither a unanimous belief in the history of Christianity nor a classic American Protestant doctrine.” Which is why he’s advocating for people of faith to reassess their position. | ||
**Who Dissed answer: President Joe Biden isn’t the first commander in chief to have a problem with Netanyahu: President Barack Obama got caught saying this about the prime minister to French President Nicolas Sarkozy on a hot mic at the G20 Summit in 2011. |
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