A behind-the-scenes chronicler of the White House for half a century for the Washington Post, Bob Woodward revealed with Carl Bernstein the Watergate scandal that led to the resignation of President Nixon in 1974.
In his book “War”, to be published on October 15, he describes in particular the vain efforts of President Joe Biden to stop the war waged by Israel in the Gaza Strip after the deadly Hamas attack on October 7, 2023.
Since the start of the conflict, American diplomacy has displayed its powerlessness to influence the way in which its ally conducts the war.
According to the book, during a telephone conversation in April, Joe Biden asked Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu what his strategy was.
“We must return to Rafah,” replied the Israeli leader. “Bibi, you have no strategy,” retorted Joe Biden, using the nickname of the Israeli leader.
The American president then complained to his advisers, saying that the Israeli Prime Minister was a “liar”, “only interested in his political survival”.
At the beginning of September, Joe Biden publicly estimated that Benjamin Netanyahu was not doing enough to reach an agreement for the release of Israeli hostages held by Hamas in the Gaza Strip.
Despite his recriminations, the American president has so far refused to use the leverage of the delivery of arms to Israel to influence the policy of Benjamin Netanyahu’s government, apart from suspending a delivery of bombs in may.
According to the Washington Post, Vice President Kamala Harris makes a few appearances in Bob Woodward’s story, supporting Joe Biden’s positions but with a non-determining role for his foreign policy.
In July, following a meeting with Benjamin Netanyahu, Kamala Harris adopted a harsh tone on the way in which the conflict was being led by Israel in Gaza, promising not to “remain silent” in the face of the suffering of the Palestinians.
Public declarations which contrasted with the tone of the discussions in private, where the approach was much more cordial, advances “War”. The contrast in the comments of the Democratic presidential candidate on November 5 would have provoked the astonishment and anger of Benjamin Netanyahu, according to Bob Woodward.
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