Biden Criticizes Israeli Prime Minister’s Cabinet Over ‘Extremist’ Views

President Joe Biden departs for El Paso County, Colo., from the South Lawn of the White House in Washington on May 31, 2023. (Madalina Vasiliu/The Epoch Times)

President Joe Biden criticized Israel in a recent interview, describing the Cabinet of the Jewish state’s prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, as “extremist.”

In an interview with CNN’s Fareed Zakaria that aired on Sunday, Mr. Biden acknowledged that Mr. Netanyahu is dealing with the factions in his coalition, but the president also alluded to some members of the prime minister’s Cabinet.

“This is one of the most extremist members of cabinets that I’ve seen. I go all the way back to Golda Meir and—you know, not that she was extreme, but I go back to that era,” he said.

Ms. Meir was prime minister of Israel from 1969 to 1974, and Mr. Biden began his first term in the U.S. Senate in 1973.

While Mr. Biden did not name any particular Cabinet members, those who have come under fire for being extreme include National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir and Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich.

Mr. Ben-Gvir, in his current role, has on multiple occasions visited the Temple Mount in Jerusalem, where the Holy Jewish Temple once stood. It’s now home to the Muslim site of the Dome of the Rock. While Jews are allowed on the Temple Mount, they are prohibited from praying there.

Mr. Ben-Gvir has made statements viewed by some as divisive, including comments critical of LGBT pride events in Tel Aviv.

“The homosexuals are my brothers and the lesbians are my sisters,” he said on Israeli TV’s Channel 12 in June. “I’ve always said that but I’m against walking around in the streets in underwear and I’m against being coerced.”

Mr. Smotrich, while viewed as not as extreme as Mr. Ben-Gvir, has made remarks viewed as outside the mainstream. For example, he said in March that “there is no such thing as a Palestinian people.”

Netanyahu Snubbed

Mr. Biden has been at odds with Mr. Netanyahu at least since March, when the former said he has no plans to invite the latter to the White House “in the near term” due to Mr. Netanyahu’s efforts to change Israel’s judiciary, especially its Supreme Court, that have prompted widespread protests in the Jewish state’s streets.

Mr. Biden’s comments on Israel come ahead of his reported meeting later in July with Israeli President Isaac Herzog. Mr. Herzog will be in Washington to address Congress on July 19 in commemoration of the 75th anniversary of the founding of Israel.

The U.S. president’s remarks also come following Israel conducting a raid in Jenin, a West Bank city notorious for harboring alleged Palestinian terrorists.

In the CNN interview, Mr. Biden did not only criticize Israel’s government. He also spoke about the Palestinian Authority (PA) and said it “has lost its credibility, not necessarily because of what Israel has done, just because it’s—it’s just lost its credibility” and has “created a vacuum for extremism in among the Palestinians. The [Palestinian Liberation Army], they are—there are some very extreme elements.”

Mr. Biden went on to suggest that Israel is not wholly responsible for ending the decades-long conflict.

“It’s not all Israel now, in the West Bank, all Israel’s problem,” he said. “But they are a part of the problem. And particularly those individuals in the cabinet who say, ’they have no right, we could settle anywhere we want, they have no right to be here,' etc.”

Reaction From Community

Prominent members of the Jewish and pro-Israel community gave differing perspectives about Biden calling out Israel’s cabinet.

“It’s Bibi’s Cabinet and not Herzog’s. Biden will make that distinction,” Democrat strategist Steve Rabinowitz told The Epoch Times, referring to Mr. Herzog’s upcoming visit. “And good for Biden; this Israeli Cabinet is extreme.”

Mr. Rabinowitz did not elaborate on why or how the Cabinet is extreme.

Democratic Majority for Israel (DMFI), which supports pro-Israel Democrats, concurred with Mr. Rabinowitz.

“President Biden is correct in saying this Israeli Cabinet contains some of the most extreme members ever. That’s an empirical fact. Israelis recognize that. Americans recognize that. Every knowledgeable person in the world recognizes that,” DMFI spokesperson Rachel Rosen told The Epoch Times.

“President Biden, who will be welcoming Israeli President Herzog to the White House shortly, was also correct in the interview when he made clear he has been ‘an unyielding supporter of Israel’ during his entire career and that the Palestinians bear important responsibility for the situation they face,” she continued.

Sander Gerber, who played a crucial role to get the United States to enact legislation to curb U.S. taxpayer dollars toward the Palestinian Authority due to its program rewarding terrorists and their families, told The Epoch Times that the “extreme” label is the sentiment of the Cabinet members toward Palestinians.

“The media conflates the term to include both the Palestinian people and the Palestinian Authority,” he said.

“Statements by some Cabinet members that the PA is stealing the future from the Palestinian people and pays to kill civilians is labeled ‘extreme’ because Israeli diplomats have bolstered the mainstream view that the PA are freedom fighters,” continued Mr. Gerber. “Sadly, the drive to support the PA both harms the Palestinian people and raises barriers to peace.”

Middle East Diplomacy

The Republican Jewish Coalition harshly criticized Biden for his comments against America’s closest ally in the Middle East.

“Sadly, this is yet another example of President Biden undermining our ally, Israel,” Sam Markstein, national political director of the Republican Jewish Coalition, told The Epoch Times.

“Whether it is cutting scientific and technological cooperation in Judea and Samaria, hiring anti-Israel activists at the White House, pleading with the terrorists in Tehran for a bad nuclear deal, ceding diplomatic ground in the Middle East to China, or releasing an antisemitism policy that undermines efforts to codify a clear and comprehensive definition of antisemitism, the Biden administration continues to be a delight for far-left radicals and a deep disappointment to mainstream pro-Israel supporters,” Markstein continued.

At the end of the interview, Mr. Biden stated that normalization between Israel and Saudi Arabia is not near.

“We’re a long way from there. We’ve got a lot to talk about. For example, that trip I went, which was criticized for my going, a number of things have happened,” he said.

“On that trip I was able to negotiate overflights. ... Israeli aircraft could now overfly Saudi Arabia, number one. Number two, the price of oil is actually down, not up, and it’s not because they have done one thing or the other. But the world is changing. Our policies relative to renewables are real.”