President Biden’s frustrations with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu over the war in Gaza have at times boiled over in profane terms, according to accounts in a new book by Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist Bob Woodward.
The president in private referred to Netanyahu as a “son of a bitch,” a “bad guy… a bad f—ing guy,” Woodward wrote of conversations with associates in the Spring of 2024, as Israel’s war in Gaza intensified, according to CNN, which obtained a copy of the book.
The White House has acknowledged Biden’s growing frustrations with Netanyahu over the course of the year as Palestinian civilian casualties mounted in the tens of thousands amid Israel’s pursuit to eliminate Hamas in Gaza following the Oct. 7 terrorist attack.
Woodward writes in the book that Biden criticized Netanyahu as having no strategy when the Israeli leader declared his intention to go into Gaza’s southern city of Rafah – a move that the Biden administration had worked to delay over humanitarian concerns, with more than one million people sheltering in a city home to less than 300,000 people.
“He’s a f–ing liar,” Biden said privately of Netanyahu, after Israel went into Rafah, Woodward reportedly wrote in the book.
Woodward wrote that Biden sought to influence Netanyahu in April against escalating action against Iran by telling him to “do nothing” and to “take the win,” after the U.S. and regional allies helped Israel down a missile barrage launched by Iran at the time.
Israel instead struck an Iranian airfield near a sensitive nuclear site as retaliation, but it did not escalate further at that time.
“I know he’s going to do something but the way I limit it is tell him to ‘Do nothing,’” Biden told his advisers, according to Woodward.
But Biden’s frustrations with Netanyahu have heightened amid a series of Israeli actions against Iranian targets and its proxies of Hezbollah and Hamas over the summer, many of which reportedly took place without the U.S. receiving advance notice.
“Bibi, what the f–?” Biden yelled at Netanyahu in July after an Israeli airstrike killed a top Hezbollah military commander and three civilians in Beirut, according to Woodward.
“You know the perception of Israel around the world increasingly is that you’re a rogue state, a rogue actor,” Biden said to Netanyahu, according to the book.
Netanyahu responded that the target was “one of the leading terrorists.”
“We saw an opportunity and took it,” Netanyahu said. “The harder you hit, the more successful you’re going to be in the negotiation.”
Emilie Simons, White House senior deputy press secretary, did not offer comment about the specific anecdotes laid out in Woodward’s book, but said that Biden and Netanyahu “have a long term relationship, they have a very honest and direct relationship,” during a briefing with reporters aboard Air Force One.
Alex Gangitano contributed to this report.