Israeli ambassador and Biden adviser clash over Gaza war legacy
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Brett McGurk (L) and Benjamin Netanyahu in 2024. Photo: Koby Gideon/GPO Handout via Getty
Israeli Ambassador Yechiel Leiter had a tense exchange with Brett McGurk, former President Biden's top Middle East adviser, after Leiter condemned the Biden administration's Gaza policy in a closed-door briefing at the Atlantic Council last week, according to four American and Israeli sources who attended the meeting.
Why it matters: The bad blood between Biden's team and the Netanyahu government hasn't gone away. Biden officials and many Democrats were furious over what they saw as ingratitude from Netanyahu and his allies during his last year in office, particularly given the heat Biden took from within his party over his strong support for Israel.
- "The most striking thing was the arrogant tone of the ambassador," one Israeli who was in the room told Axios.
Behind the scenes: During a closed event at the Atlantic Council, Leiter, a conservative settler and a Netanyahu loyalist who arrived in D.C. soon after President Trump took office, accused the Biden administration of imposing an unofficial arms embargo on Israel during the war and focusing primarily on the humanitarian situation in Gaza, the four sources said.
- The sources noted that Leiter even claimed all the Biden administration wanted to discuss with Israel was the number of aid trucks entering Gaza.
- McGurk was in audience, and he asked for the opportunity to comment after Leiter ended his presentation.
"I want to make sure the ambassador knows all the details about what the Biden administration did for Israel since October 7," McGurk told Leiter, according to the sources who were in the room.
- McGurk then detailed many steps Biden took like traveling Israel, sending aircraft carriers to the Middle East to deter Hezbollah and Iran, giving $13 billion in military assistance, using emergency procedures to ensure the deliver of weapons, helping defeat two Iranian missile attacks and blocking anti-Israeli measures in the UN.
- After McGurk's pushback, Leiter said he stands corrected but thanked McGurk personally but not the Biden administration as a whole, the sources said.
What they are saying: McGurk told Axios the exchange with Leiter was "friendly and respectful." Leiter declined to comment.
