Former U.S. ambassador to the United Nations and ex-Trump administration national security adviser John Bolton said Friday that U.S. President Joe Biden could be the reason Israel had to delay its military operations against Hamas terrorists in Gaza.
In a radio interview on the “Cats & Cosby Show,” Bolton said “Biden has his hand around Bibi’s belt” and is preventing him from launching a full-scale ground offensive in Gaza in retaliation for the arrivals. rocket fire.
“Especially in the Middle East, they recognize strength,” Bolton explained. “They’re talking about who’s the strong horse, and we know in the region it’s Israel. But Biden has his hand around Bibi’s belt. They’re not going to let people go forward.”
While Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has given no firm timetable for the offensive, there have been reports that the Biden administration is pushing Tel Aviv to delay the offensive to negotiate the release of the hostages with Hamas. Biden asked Netanyahu to wait until “Hamas releases more hostages, but I didn’t ask for that,” according to reporters in Washington. The U.S. was found to be watching for any window of time to secure the release of the hostages from the hostage-taking operation.
During a White House press conference, Biden asked a reporter, “Are you urging Israel to delay its ground invasion?” He replied that “Israelis can make their own decisions.” The Biden administration has emphasized that it is trying to avoid regional escalation in the Middle East region.
When he met with Netanyahu and the war cabinet in Tel Aviv, Biden said he was asked “some tough questions.” “We don’t control the Israelis, the timeline is theirs – their thinking, their planning,” Biden clarified.
Asked if the United States was carving out a role in the war between Israel and Hamas, White House communications director Ben LaBolt said Biden “was away. He didn’t hear the whole question. The question was ‘Would you like to see more hostages released?'” And so Biden responded accordingly, but “had no further comment,” LaBolt said.
Bolton noted that while the Israeli military escalation will be “risky” and “unpleasant,” it is an appropriate response to the October 7 Hamas attacks that claimed the lives of 1,400 Israelis. “If you believe you have the right to live without terror, and you have been attacked as Israel has, then you have the right to defend yourself, including eliminating the threat of terror itself,” he said.
“Both Israel and the Biden administration want to exhaust all efforts to try to get the hostages out of Gaza,” an unidentified senior Israeli official told Axios.
Image Source: Los Angeles Times
