Biden Caught on Hot Mic Criticizing Israeli PM Benajmin Netanyahu

While walking the line after Biden’s State of the Union (SOTU) speech, Joe Biden got caught talking smack against Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

Biden claimed that Netanyahu was “hurting” Israel with his hard stance against Gaza, stating that he had a “come to Jesus meeting” with the PM.

Well, Netanyahu has responded and now Biden is scrambling to do damage control.

Come to Jesus Moment

On his way out the door, Biden stopped to have a quick chat with Sen. Michael Bennet (D-CO) about Israel.

The mic was still hot, and it picked up Biden stating, “I told him, ‘Bibi’ — and don’t repeat this, but [I said] ‘You and I are going to have a come to Jesus—.’”

An aide could then be seen rushing up to Biden, exclaiming, “Sir!” before whispering something in Biden’s ear.

We found out what that was a second later, when Biden stated, “I’m on a hot mic here.”

Biden then sarcastically added, “Good. That was good.”

This blew up on conservative media that night and the next day, and it finally made its way to Netanyahu, who sounded a bit peeved by it all.

Netanyahu commented, "You have to ask him what he said because he said he agrees that we have to destroy Hamas as a fighting organization. That's what we intend to do. Look, it's either Israel or Hamas. There's no middle way.

"I mean, we have to have that victory. We can't have three-quarters of a victory. We can't have two-thirds of a victory, because Hamas will reconstitute itself with these four battalions in Rafah, reconquer the Gaza Strip and do the October 7th massacre over and over and over again.

“And for us, for Israel, not merely for me, but for the people of Israel, that's a red line. We can't let Hamas survive.”

Netanyahu then made it quite clear he has no intent of slowing down his assault, stating, "I'm telling you that we're not getting off the gas.”

Biden was then doing damage control, angrily responding to a question about his comments, stating, “What I meant was it’s an expression used in the southern part of my state, meaning a serious meeting. And it was, — I’ve known Bibi for 50 years and he knew what I meant by it.”

Netanyahu, however, had no idea what Biden meant, responding to a direct question about the “come to Jesus” moment, saying he had no idea what the saying meant.

Netanyahu did not want to push too hard, however, because he needs the money the United States supplies, so he softened his stance toward the end of the interview, stating, “Well, look, to the extent that the world thinks that America and Israel are united, that helps the war effort, and it helps our effort to achieve victory.

“And obviously, the release of the hostages. To the extent that Hamas believes that there's daylight between us, that doesn't help.

"I appreciated the support that President Biden and the administration have given us since the beginning of the war. I can only hope that it will continue to victory, because victory is at hand… The victory will come as soon as — I think it will come sooner — the more united we are. Not divided. Or at least not given the appearance of division.”

This is the one issue that Biden will not be able to escape. While it did not cost him any primary elections, the “uncommitted” votes we saw, especially in Michigan, were enough that if the percentage holds true in a general election, it could cost him the state.

Biden has worked himself into an unwinnable position.

If he keeps backing Israel, young and Muslim voters may not pull the handle for him in November. But if he caves to them, he loses a much larger contingent of voters.

Biden needs Netanyahu to wrap this up as quickly as possible to make it a non-issue by election day, but the Prime Minister is clearly in this for the long haul with or without the United States.

And believe me, as bad as allowing Ukraine to fall would be for Biden, forcing Israel to back down against terrorists would be far, far worse.