
Biden expected to forcefully urge Netanyahu to accept ceasefire deal in Thursday meeting
CNN
President Joe Biden is expected to be as forceful as he has ever been in urging Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to accept a ceasefire agreement when the two leaders meet privately at the White House Thursday afternoon, sources tell CNN, as US officials believe that a deal may be on the cusp.
President Joe Biden is expected to be as forceful as he has ever been in urging Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to accept a ceasefire agreement when the two leaders meet privately at the White House Thursday afternoon, sources tell CNN, as US officials believe that a deal may be on the cusp. “We’re closer than we’ve ever been,” one senior administration official said. “It’s up to the Israelis to accept it.” Biden’s in-person meeting with Netanyahu follows the Israeli prime minister’s speech to Congress on Wednesday, which sparked antisemitic and pro-Hamas protests in Washington, DC, that the White House condemned. The meeting, which is Biden’s first with a world leader since announcing he would drop out of the 2024 race, comes at a fragile point in their decadeslong relationship. A resolution to end the Israel-Hamas war that began in October now looms large over Biden’s legacy as a one-term president. Progress in the negotiations for a ceasefire have come in fits and starts in recent months, and Biden and his senior national security officials have been closely involved in trying to land the deal. Biden will also have a second separate setting Thursday afternoon where he could apply firm pressure on Netanyahu to finalize the ceasefire agreement – a joint meeting with the prime minister and the families of American hostages in Gaza. Multiple sources stressed that no major announcement about an agreement is expected on Thursday. However, as CNN reported this week, US and Israeli officials have voiced increased optimism about the prospects of an agreement.