What are the reasons for the escalation of the dispute between Biden and Netanyahu?

US President Joe Biden said that the Israeli Prime Minister must change his extremist government, after Israel loses the support of the international community, as a result of indiscriminate bombing in Gaza, which is suffering under the weight of a massive humanitarian crisis.

There is no disagreement between the United States and Israel over the current course of the war and the declared goal of destroying the political and military capabilities of Hamas movement and restoring the status quo, but there is a pivotal disagreement regarding the issue of governing Gaza after the war, which caused the dispute to escalate to global public opinion, as well as expressing the US administration’s concern that extremist currents within the Israeli government are obstructing the course of the peace process and the future of the two-state solution.

Biden told donors at a fundraising campaign in Washington that Netanyahu’s government risks eroding international support for the military campaign against Hamas by refusing to support the principle of a two-state solution, explaining that his administration will continue to support Israel, but at the same time he raised concerns about the positions of other countries, adding, “Israel must be careful because the entire world public opinion can change overnight”.

Biden repeated his call to Netanyahu not to repeat the mistakes made by the United States after the September 11 attacks, as he specifically mentioned the extremist Israeli politician Itamar Ben Gvir, the Israeli Minister of National Security, adding that “this government in Israel is making it very difficult”.

Biden also said, “We’ve an opportunity to start unifying the region, and they still want to do that, but we have to make sure that Bibi (Netanyahu) realizes that he has to take some steps… You cannot say no Palestinian state… This will be the difficult part”.

Biden’s speech comes shortly after a video posted by Netanyahu, on his account on X, in which he says that United States and Israel disagree regarding the subsequent phase of the war in Gaza, and after Israel’s confirmation of the continuation of the war in the Gaza Strip, and Netanyahu’s threat to the Palestinian Authority of war, saying that “if the Palestinian Authority decides to attack Israel, the Israeli army will respond forcefully in the West Bank,” after a similar threat directed by his spokesman, Ofir Gendelman, to Lebanon.

Netanyahu stated that the United States supports Israel in its goals of eliminating Hamas and restoring detainees held by the Palestinian movement, but pointed out that the two allies differ regarding the subsequent phase of the war in Gaza.

Meanwhile, the Washington Post quoted US administration officials as saying that they were asking the Israelis specific questions regarding their legal obligations to protect civilians.