Biden and Netanyahu call comes amid extreme mutual tensions and political pressure

CNN —

President Joe Biden’s scheduled call with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Thursday will not simply test the leaders’ increasingly sour relationship.

It will also highlight a glaring contradiction in US policy toward the war in Gaza, a conflict that potentially poses an existential threat to both of their political careers.

While Biden is expressing growing frustration about the Israeli leader’s conduct of the military onslaught and its impact on civilians – including the killing of seven aid workers in Gaza this week – the fundamentals of staunch US support for Israel are not shifting. And at the same time as the White House is demanding changes to Israeli procedures to shield civilians, warning a planned assault on Rafah could cause a humanitarian disaster, the administration’s military support remains firm: CNN reported on Thursday that the US recently authorized the transfer of more than 2,000 additional bombs to Israel (the transaction was approved before the deadly strike that killed the aid workers), and sources said this week that the US is moving toward approving a sale of F-15 warplanes to Israel worth $18 billion.

The Biden-Netanyahu call — which was scheduled after the killing of the aid workers, a source familiar told CNN’s MJ Lee — will also come amid renewed fears in Washington that Israel’s actions could spark the regional conflagration that Biden has been desperate to avoid. A strike on senior Iranian officers in Syria on Monday, which the US attributes to Israel, has drawn vows of retaliation, which could again put US troops in the region at risk.

The conversation will also take place with both leaders under enormous domestic pressure and amid signs their political priorities