White House didn’t share Biden’s February warning to Netanyahu about withholding aid

President Joe Biden warned Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Feb. 11 that the United States could pull some military support if Israel invaded the Gaza city of Rafah.

But the public didn’t find out about Biden’s warning until about three months later when he announced he was pausing a shipment of weapons to Israel.

The Washington Examiner contacted the White House to ask for comment on the new reporting and why they didn’t disclose the conversation, but did not receive a response.

“He has just gotten to a point where enough is enough,” former Defense Secretary and Republican senator Chuck Hagel, told the New York Times. “I think he felt he had to say something. He had to do something. He had to show some sign that he wasn’t going to continue this.”

Biden recently told CNN that he “made it clear that if they go into Rafah — they haven’t gone in Rafah yet — if they go into Rafah, I’m not supplying the weapons that have been used historically to deal with Rafah, to deal with the cities — that deal with that problem.”

The paused weapons shipment caused an uproar and resulted in Rep. Cory Mills (R-FL) introducing articles of impeachment alleging Biden abused his power by pausing the shipment of weapons to Israel. He accused him of committing a quid pro quo, just as Democrats did to Trump in their own impeachment articles in 2019.

A White House official called it “ridiculous” in a statement to the Hill.

“Senior administration officials had already made multiple public statements about Rafah similar to the President’s, including that we are also ensuring Israel gets every dollar appropriated in the supplemental,” the official said. “Trump failed to spend dollars appropriated by Congress that he was legally required to spend. This is about a purchase made by a foreign government and our decision whether to deliver that purchase right now, which could enable an operation we’ve publicly and privately objected to.”

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Biden has publicly moved all over the map on his and the country’s support for Israel since the terrorist ambush on Oct. 7 last year. The decision to hold back offensive aid from Israel as it plans an incursion into Rafah, with the goal of putting an ultimate end to Hamas, was the end result of months of back and forth between himself and Netanyahu.

From an electoral perspective, Biden’s handling of support for Israel has put him in tight positions with several constituents. As his team works to find a way to continue to appeal to younger voters, there have been weeks of protests on college campuses voicing solidarity with Hamas and antipathy for Israel.