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Analysis

Netanyahu holds firm, for now, against Biden pressure

Flashback to Ronald Reagan’s ‘come to Jesus’ talk with Menachem Begin; our reporting from Jerusalem, Rafah, Ramallah, Amman and Washington.
US President Joe Biden meets with Israel's prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, in Tel Aviv on Oct. 18, 2023.

Biden banks on special connection with Israelis

The Biden administration’s pressure campaign against Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu took another giant step this week. 

White House ally, friend to Israel and Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) gave a speech in the Senate that could be titled “Bibi must go.”

Schumer’s remarks didn’t come in isolation. US President Joe Biden has put the word out: He’s had it with Netanyahu, despite their decades-long close friendship. And on Friday Biden said the Senate majority leader had made a “good speech,” adding, “I think he expressed serious concern shared not only by him, but by many Americans.”

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