An Israeli official has said Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has been encouraged to take stronger action against Iran because Joe Biden has quit the US presidential race.
The official told the Daily Telegraph that Biden had tried to “restrain” Netanyahu while he was still running for a second term in the White House.
“He told him not to respond too harshly to Iran’s attacks. And Iran knew this, which is why they exploited the situation to attack Israel,” the official said.
He added that now he was free of the constraints of having to balance party politics, Biden would be more inclined to support Israel, and that his decision would be a “big game changer” for the region.
“His true agenda is to support Israel fully. And he has done so for decades. Netanyahu knows this, which is why he’s being more bold and feels confident that he can attack Israel’s enemies and still have the full support of the US,” the official said.
It comes after a series of assassinations rocked the Middle East, including of senior Hamas figure Ismail Haniyeh in Tehran.
Israel, which also conducted strikes in Lebanon and Syria, is anticipating a significant military response from Iran.
Washington too is preparing for an escalation, increasing military support for Israel by sending aircraft and aircraft carriers to the region in preparation for a drone or missile attack by Iran and its proxies.
However, another Israeli official told the Daily Telegraph that relations between Biden and Netanyahu had not been made any easier following former’s decision to drop out.
“Biden wants to get a ceasefire. That is how he wants to leave his term. The conversation they held two days ago was tense,” the official said.
Dan Arbell, a scholar-in-residence at the Center for Israeli Studies at American University, told the Daily Telegraph that he does not believe Biden dropping out of the race was the reason for the assassinations earlier this week.
“Biden being a lame duck could play a small role, but I don’t think that’s the ultimate consideration,” he said, adding that the outgoing president was also not going to give Netanyahu “carte blanche to do whatever” he wants.
“I think that any move by him (Biden) to support Israel, he has to take into consideration how that impacts (new Democratic presidential nominee Kamala) Harris in public,” Arbell said.