Biden slammed Netanyahu: "You think I'm Santa Claus?"
Brett McGurk's new book, "On the Brink: Behind the Race to Free the October 7 Hostages," reveals heated phone calls between Joe Biden and Benjamin Netanyahu in April 2024. Biden threatened to cut military aid, raged after the Iranian attack, and said "I just saved his ass." The book also describes a confrontation between the Shin Bet chief and the Egyptian intelligence chief over the hostage deal.
Brett McGurk's new book, "On the Brink: Behind the Race to Free the October 7 Hostages," reveals heated phone calls between former US President Joe Biden and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in April 2024. McGurk, who was in the room as the White House Middle East coordinator, describes how Biden opened a call on April 4 in anger: "Bibi, man, what the hell are you doing?" and continued: "You think I'm Santa Claus? There's no Santa in Israel, friend." The call came after Israel struck Damascus, killing a senior Iranian official, and an attack in Gaza killed seven World Central Kitchen workers. Biden threatened to cut military aid with a snap of his fingers. Netanyahu replied that Israel would defend itself even without the US. Nine days later, after the US helped intercept the Iranian attack, Biden said: "I just saved his ass, that's what. Let him stop it here." The book also describes a confrontation between then-Shin Bet chief Ronen Bar and Egyptian intelligence chief Abbas Kamel in Cairo in February 2024, when Kamel demanded Bar pressure Netanyahu. The article is based on a publication in The Atlantic, and the book is expected to be released on October 6.