President Joe Biden is inching closer to publicly shaming Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu over his all-out assault on Gaza, according to The Washington Post. Biden reportedly has grown increasingly frustrated with Netanyahu, finding him to be harder to privately influence as Israel continues its ground assault on the Gaza Strip. That’s allowed some of the president’s staff to push him to turn that frustration into a public statement, the Post reports. There were already cracks. The U.S. has publicly opposed several of Israel’s tactics, including its move into Rafah, where 1.4 million Palestinians live, and Netanyahu criticized a potential hostage deal while Secretary of State Antony Blinken was attempting to negotiate one. Biden’s private frustration came into public view on Thursday during his chaotic press conference, where he chastised Israel’s response to Hamas’ Oct. 7 attack as “over the top” and noted that “a lot of innocent people” were starving and dying.
