Biden Has Admitted He Knew Netanyahu Was "Carpet Bombing" Gaza For 15 Months
"I said, 'But Bibi, you can't be carpet bombing these communities,'" Biden said.
In his last interview before leaving office, outgoing US president Joe Biden admitted that he had told Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu to stop "carpet bombing" Gaza just days after Hamas carried out its surprise attack on Oct. 7, 2023.
Speaking on MSNBC, Biden said that he had gone over to Israel about eight days after Oct. 7 and told Netanyahu that the US was going to help.
"I said, 'But Bibi, you can't be carpet bombing these communities,'" Biden said.
"And he said to me, 'Well, you did it. You carpet bomb,' not his exact words, 'But you carpet bombed Berlin. You dropped a nuclear weapon. You killed thousands of innocent people because you had to in order to win a war," he added.
Biden said he had explained that this was why the UN and international humanitarian law — also known as the rules of war — were created, but Netanyahu ignored him for saying that he couldn't indiscriminately bomb civilian areas.
He said Netanyahu had believed that it was the only way to get to Hamas was to bomb the places above the tunnels Hamas had built in Gaza.
MSNBC host Lawrence O’Donnell then asked Biden if he pushed for a ceasefire on his first trip to Israel after Oct. 7.
Biden said that he did not push for a ceasefire but for preventing innocent deaths, adding that he pushed really hard for humanitarian aid to get into Gaza afterwards.
In the interview, Biden called Netanyahu a friend but said, "We don't agree a whole lot lately," the New York Times reported.
He also defended his support for Israel during the genocide.
“When Iran thought it was going to blow Israel off the map — they had those thousands of missiles heading their way,” he said. “Well, guess what? We didn’t let it happen.”
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