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<\/a><\/p>\nFormer U.S. National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan answers questions during the daily press briefing at the White House, May 13, 2024 in Washington, DC. (Win McNamee\/Getty Images)<\/p>\n<\/div>\n
The comments in high-profile interviews in Israeli and U.S. media come as Netanyahu has not responded to the latest ceasefire offer from Hamas \u2014 and as approval for Israel\u2019s handling of the war in Gaza among Democrats has plummeted to 8%.<\/p>\n
The situation in Gaza has transformed since Biden left the presidency, with reports of starvation and nearly 200 journalists killed, many Democratic lawmakers have newly supported legislation to block U.S. arms sales to Israel.<\/p>\n
As support for Israel significantly wanes across the Democratic party and beyond, the former Biden administration officials appear to be distancing themselves from the war\u2019s current state and casting their efforts as more critical of Israel than was publicly visible at the time.<\/p>\n
Matthew Miller: Biden administration didn\u2019t publicly accuse Netanyahu of sabotaging ceasefire despite strong sentiment<\/p>\n
Matthew Miller, the State Department spokesperson under Biden, told an Israeli news channel last week that the Biden administration repeatedly considered publicly announcing that Netanyahu was hindering a ceasefire deal, but decided against it for fear of emboldening Hamas.<\/p>\n
\u201cThere were times that we very much wanted to go public and make clear that we thought the prime minister was being completely intransigent and making it tougher to get a deal,\u201d Miller told journalists with \u201cThe Source,\u201d on Israel\u2019s Channel 13.<\/p>\n
\u201cBut we discussed it amongst ourselves, and we made the decision that it wouldn\u2019t accomplish anything, [because] we had seen it in a number of cases: [Hamas\u2019 Yahya] Sinwar pulled back from negotiations when he thought there was division between the United States and Israel,\u201d Miller continued. \u201cWe wanted to speak very toughly to the government of Israel behind closed doors, but ultimately not do anything that we thought would make it harder to get to a deal.\u201d<\/p>\n
It was the first on-camera admission of what other reports have indicated, that Netanyahu was the ultimate obstacle to ceasefires during the war.<\/p>\n
In one example cited by Miller, he told Channel 13 that the secretary of state had told Netanyahu that he was \u201cmaking it impossible to realize the dream that the State of Israel has had since its founding,\u201d adding that Israel would be \u201cbogged down here fighting this war for years and decades to come.\u201d<\/p>\n
Netanyahu allegedly replied: \u201cYou\u2019re right. We are going to be fighting this war for decades to come. That\u2019s the way it\u2019s been. That\u2019s the way it\u2019s going to be.\u201d<\/p>\n
Former National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan says arms embargo now represents \u2018totally credible\u2019 position<\/p>\n
In an interview Wednesday with The Bulwark host Tim Miller, former U.S. National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan said that he had told members of Congress that blocking arms to Israel had become a \u201ctotally credible position.\u201d<\/p>\n
As a top advisor to Biden, Sullivan frequently met with Israeli officials to discuss the prosecution of the war in Gaza and humanitarian efforts in the region. Just weeks into the war in Gaza, Sullivan defended Israel\u2019s \u201cright to defend itself against terrorist attacks,\u201d and also said that the United States would work with Israel to ensure \u201cPalestinians get access to those basic necessities.\u201d<\/p>\n
In January, before leaving office following President Donald Trump\u2019s reelection, Sullivan said the Biden administration was \u201cclose to a deal\u201d and touted the administration\u2019s policy in the Middle East over the previous four years, telling reporters, \u201cWe\u2019ve stood in defense of our friends, and we\u2019ve stood up to our enemies.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cI have, in fact, told a number of members who were thinking about the votes on these resolutions that the situation as it stands today, following the breakdown of the ceasefire in March, means that a vote to withhold weapons from Israel is a totally credible position,\u201d Sullivan told Miller.<\/p>\n
Sullivan\u2019s comments come one day after the Democratic National Committee blocked a resolution that would have called for halting arms sales to Israel.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe case for withholding weapons from Israel today is much stronger than it was one year ago,\u201d Sullivan said. \u201cOne, they don\u2019t face the same regional threats. Two, there was a ceasefire hostage deal in place and the ability to have negotiations, and it was Israel who just walked away from it without negotiating seriously. Three, there is a full-blown famine in Gaza. And four, there are no more serious military objectives to achieve. It\u2019s just bombing the rubble into rubble.\u201d<\/p>\n
Jacob Lew: Biden administration prevented humanitarian crisis and demanded answers from Israel<\/p>\n
Another top Biden administration official, Jacob Lew, who was the U.S. ambassador to Israel from 2023 to 2025, has been pressing the case that U.S. intervention was preventing the humanitarian crisis now underway in Gaza.<\/p>\n
Earlier this month, Lew co-authored a piece in Foreign Affairs with David Satterfield, Biden\u2019s special envoy for humanitarian issues in the region, in which that pair argued that their efforts in the former administration in Gaza had \u201cprevented famine.\u201d<\/p>\n
While pro-Palestinian voices have warned of food scarcity and starvation in the enclave throughout the war, under the Trump administration, reports of starvation in the enclave have escalated, with a global hunger monitor declaring a famine in parts of Gaza last week.<\/p>\n
In an interview Tuesday with The New Yorker\u2019s Isaac Chotiner, Lew expanded on the Foreign Affairs piece, telling Chotiner that Biden\u2019s \u201ccommitment to supporting Israel in a legitimate, just fight was clear, and that had to coexist with pressing them on these humanitarian issues.\u201d<\/p>\n
Later in the interview, Chotiner said, \u201cThere is a certain point at which the U.S. could choose to stop helping Israel,\u201d to which Lew replied that the administration had \u201cengaged with Israel on military tactics in a very direct way.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m not saying that everything went the way we would\u2019ve advised, and I\u2019m not saying we didn\u2019t call them in the middle of the night many times saying, What on earth happened just now?\u201d Lew said<\/p>\n
When asked to explain what Israel\u2019s answer would be during late-night calls about military advances, Lew said that the administration could \u201calmost never get answers that explained what happened before the story was fully framed in international media.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWhen the facts were fully developed, it turned out that the casualties were much lower, the number of civilians was much lower, and, in many cases, the children were children of Hamas fighters, not children taking cover in places,\u201d continued Lew.<\/p>\n
That comment has drawn criticism from those who said Lew was excusing the killing of children in Gaza. When Chotiner pressed him on the point, Lew said, \u201cIf you\u2019re in a command-and-control center, that\u2019s different than if it\u2019s a school that\u2019s emptied out and innocent civilians are taking shelter there. If you\u2019re the commander of a Hamas unit and you bring your family to a military site, that\u2019s different.\u201d<\/p>\n
Lew also pushed back on the characterization that Netanyahu had not wanted to end the war in Gaza and bring the remaining Israeli hostages back.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s more complicated than that,\u201d said Lew. \u201cI\u2019m not going to question that there was a political dimension to all of this. The reality at the time of all the negotiations was there were always two parties to a negotiation. Hamas was not willing to make the moves that it had to make in order to free hostages, and in order to end the war. It wasn\u2019t just one side.\u201d<\/p>\n