Biden delays presidential race withdrawal until after Netanyahu’s speech in congress: Report
Biden does not want to give Netanyahu the 'satisfaction' of withdrawing yet due to the strained relations between them, his advisers say
US President Joe Biden will not withdraw from the 2024 US presidential race before Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu addresses Congress at the invitation of Republicans on Wednesday, the New York Times reported on 20 July.
Biden is under pressure from influential members of his Democratic Party, including former president Barack Obama and Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi, to withdraw from the race against former president Donald Trump due to questions over his age and mental cognition.
“While Mr. Biden and his team publicly insist that he is staying in the race, privately, people close to him have said that he is increasingly accepting that he may not be able to, and some have begun discussing dates and venues for a possible announcement that he is stepping aside,” the New York Times added.
However, advisers to President Biden say he would not want to withdraw before Netanyahu visits Washington on Wednesday to address Congress at the invitation of its Republican members. The Times writes that Biden is “unwilling to give the premier the satisfaction given their strained relations lately over the Gaza war.”
Biden has been a staunch supporter of Israel’s genocide of Palestinians in Gaza, sending billions of dollars and hundreds of additional shipments of weapons, including devastating 500-pound and 2,000-pound bombs, to Israel since 7 October.
US aid has helped Israel kill over 38,000 Palestinians – mostly women and children – while turning much of Gaza into a “moonscape.”
But Netanyahu has nevertheless criticized Biden and his Secretary of State Antony Blinken as not assisting Israel enough, causing a majority of Israelis to prefer a Trump win in November.
In May, Israeli-born Miriam Adelson, the wife of the late billionaire Sheldon Adelson, reportedly pledged to spend more than $100 million to support Trump in the upcoming general election after staying neutral in the Republican presidential primaries this year.
In a profile in New York Magazine, Adelson suggested that she would push Trump to allow Israel to annex the occupied West Bank if he wins a second term. The magazine described West Bank annexation as “unfinished Israel business from Trump’s presidency.”
Annexing the occupied West Bank, expanding Jewish settlement there, and ethnically cleansing it of Palestinians is a key goal of Netanyahu’s ruling coalition.
Sheldon Adelson, who passed away in 2021, leveraged his support for Trump in the 2016 election to get the US embassy moved to occupied Jerusalem when Trump won.