Rep. Jim Clyburn said Sunday that President Joe Biden “feels the same way I do” that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s “leadership is not good for Israel.”
“I talked about it with the president. And of course he’s not going to go public with everything he told Netanyahu,” Clyburn, DS.C., told CBS’ “Face the Nation.” “But I know it. He feels the way I do when it comes to Netanyahu. “His leadership was not good for Israel.”
“We stand firmly with the people of Israel, but I’ve always had a real problem with Netanyahu and that continues to this day,” Clyburn added.
Moments after Biden suggested he felt the same way about Netanyahu, Clyburn tried to walk back the comments, saying he didn’t ask the president if he agreed with him.
“He accepted my assessment [of Netanyahu]. I didn’t ask him if he agreed with me. In fact, I simply tell them, “This is how I feel. I don’t run the country. You do what you think is in the best interest of the country,” Clyburn said Sunday.
The White House did not immediately respond to NBC News’ request for comment.
His comments follow widespread reports about Biden He is increasingly disillusioned with Netanyahu and its management War between Israel and Hamas.
Biden went so far as to privately call Netanyahu an “ass,” according to three people with direct knowledge of his comments. The president also called Netanyahu a “bad guy,” according to Politico informed.
Obviously, Biden did not condemn the Israeli prime minister as strongly as he did in private.
But at a press conference at the White House earlier this month, he he called Israel’s military operations in Gaza are “over the top”.
“Many innocent people are dying of hunger. Many innocent people are in trouble and they die. And this must be stopped,” Biden added at that press conference.
Netanyahu said he was not sure how to interpret this criticism.
Emphasizing that Israel experienced an “unprovoked, bloody” terrorist attack by Hamas on October 7, Netanyahu said, “I don’t know exactly what you mean by that.”
These comments were seen as the president’s harshest remarks against Israel and Netanyahu so far.
Clyburn has publicly criticized Netanyahu before. In January he he said Washington Post, “I’ve never been a fan of Netanyahu and I don’t think he’s good for Israel. I don’t think he’s fit for the world,” but he didn’t connect the president’s thinking with his own.