Biden national security spokesman claims Netanyahu wants to avoid wider regional war

Joe Biden’s national security council spokesman claimed on Sunday that despite several rounds of Israeli bombings and attacks across Lebanon, Benjamin Netanyahu still supposedly opposes the escalation of the conflict against Hamas and Hezbollah into a wider regional war.

He also downplayed the reports of increasingly frayed ties between Washington and Jerusalem, which emerged in the wake of recent strikesincluding one that killed a senior Hezbollah commander, Hassan Nasrallah. The US president was reported to have been frustrated and caught off-guard in the wake of the strike, which he viewed as a humiliation of his top diplomat, Antony Blinken.

Stating that President Joe Biden and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu have known each other for years, John Kirby said that the two “will never agree on everything” but do agree “on the big thing,” which he said was both the security of Israel as well as preventing further conflict around the Middle East.

But he evaded confirming or explaining reporting which indicated that relations had eroded to the point where US commanders were not notified of Israeli plans to kill Nasrallah until “planes were in the air.” He did indicate that the Biden administration was still not considering any efforts to limit the transfer of weaponry to Israel over concerns about how it was being used, stating that US support was “ironclad” when specifically asked about weapon transfers.

White House National Security Communications Adviser John Kirby downplays tensions between Biden and Netanyahu, telling <a rel=«nofollow» target="_blank" href=«https://twitter.com/jaketapper?ref_src=» https:>@jaketapper

they “agree on the big thing” of protecting Israel and preventing an all-out war.