Biden, Netanyahu speak for first time in weeks during war tensions

President Joe Biden on Friday spoke to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu for the first time in almost four weeks, amid strains over plans for postwar Gaza.

Their conversation came a day after the Israeli leader rejected calls from the U.S. and Arab nations for the Palestinian Authority to rule Gaza after the war with Hamas terrorists. Netanyahu said Israel would insist on keeping security control of both Gaza and the West Bank, which Palestinians claim as a future state.

Those comments prompted a rebuke from the U.S. State Department, which said there could be no lasting peace in the region without an eventual state for Palestinians alongside Israel.

Biden later Friday said he could convince Netanyahu to eventually agree to Palestinian statehood, under the right conditions.

“No, it’s not,” the president told reporters who asked if a two-state solution is impossible with Netanyahu as Israel’s leader. “There are ways in which this could work.“

U.S. National Security Council spokesman John Kirby said at a Friday news briefing that Biden raised “his vision for a more durable peace and security for Israel” that includes normalization with its Arab neighbors and “a two-state solution with Israel’s security guarantee.”

“The president still believes in the promise in the possibility of a two-state solution, and he recognizes that it’s going to take a lot of hard work,” Kirby said. “It’s going to take a lot of leadership there in the region.”

Kirby denied that Netanyahu’s dismissal of Palestinian statehood prompted the call, telling reporters that they “shouldn’t read into the fact that the call happened today as some sort of response to the prime minister’s discussions or comments yesterday.”

The White House said the two leaders discussed efforts to secure the release of hostages being held in Gaza, as well as Israel’s shifting military strategy against Hamas terrorists and efforts to send humanitarian aid to Palestinians. Biden also welcomed Israel’s announcement to permit the shipping of flour for the Palestinians through the Port of Ashdod, Kirby told reporters.

Biden and Netanyahu last spoke on Dec. 23. They were in contact multiple times weekly in the aftermath of the Oct. 7 terrorist massacre by Hamas, which killed 1,200 people and resulted in the capture of about 250 more. The U.S. and European Union designate Hamas as a terrorist group.

The White House downplayed the length between the calls, saying the pair spoke when necessary and that there would be further discussions.

“This was a call that we’ve been actually trying to land on the schedule for quite a bit of time here,” Kirby said Friday.