Israel-Hamas war: Biden pressures Netanyahu to downsize Gaza invasion, per report | LiveNOW from FOX

Welcome back here on live now from Fox and you are taking a live look from one of our many cameras across the Middle East as we bring you the latest here on the Israel Hamas war and there are developments I say it all the time pretty much on an hourly basis we do have some new details coming in of last week's phone call between President.

Biden and Israel's prime minister Biden reportedly telling Netanyahu that the US will not support a year-long war in Gaza the details reported by axios multiple us officials who are reported to have knowledge of that phone call the report also states that Biden asked net Yahoo to speed up transitioning to a lower intensity fight against Hamas that would.

Reduce harm to civilians again that is just one recent development there is a lot to discuss here so I do want to bring in benam Ben talbl senior fellow over at the foundation for defense of democracies joining us now live to talk more about all of it thank you so much as always for taking the time to be here with us it's a pleasure to be with you.

Thanks for having me of course well first off I want to talk about the new information about that phone call between Biden and Netanyahu any of that surprising to you and the big question here does netan Yahoo necessarily listened to what President Biden and other us officials are saying you know it's a great question.

Because there's been an intensification of the media and political strategy I I use that word intentionally political uh strategy that the Biden Administration uh has been engaging in with respect to Israel's military response of the October 7 terrorist attack against it and in particular here while the US Administration has been quite cognizant.

To not leave a lot of public daylight between it uh and uh the the government in Jerusalem uh it nonetheless has been behind some of these selective leaks you've seen to Major uh mainstream Western press about you know humanitarian concerns about the duration of the conflict about the nature of the ordinances used uh and we'll.

Particularly see uh how these selective leagues uh uh will you know disarm which is I think what the Biden Administration wants to do to disarm part of the you know young and Progressive left push back to the Democratic party is facing in precisely what you mentioned which is precisely in an election year so uh in short there's a desire for no strategic.

Uh space but at the same time trying to engage in these selective leaks in the hopes of plating uh those populations it's almost certainly not going to work it'll be too little too late in the eyes of those populations but transitioning to the second uh half of your question about if uh prime minister Netanyahu would I think listen to that I think.

He'll respectfully listen but respectfully disagree uh you know Israel is know in a fundamentally different kind of State in a pre and post October 7 World anyone you talk to on any side of the political Spectrum in Israel uh will tell you that I think they're quite serious when they when they talk about you know not moving the gold post on the.

Campaign to destroy Hamas uh but nonetheless that us relationship is vital and it's particularly vital as Netanyahu comes under more domestic pressure not just from internally displac Israelis but also hostage families uh and other political elements as well and Yemen's internationally.

Recognized government says that the US and UK air strikes on the houthi rebels aren't necessarily enough they're actually calling for the US and Saudi support to quote unquote eliminate the houthis and their attacks what is significant of that call from Yemen's government as we know the US and UK have been involved in those air strikes.

Against portions of Yemen that are connected of course to the houthi so what is the overall significance of that statement it's a criticism and and I'm quite glad to use that that proper terminology the internationally recognized government of Yemen because far too often when we're talking about uh that Rebel houthi movement which the.

Biden Administration has rightly reapplied uh the uh specially designated Global Terror uh you know label to it's slightly different than the terrorist label the Trump Administration applied but nonetheless has applied the label of the terrorist group to um people have been calling it the jury or essentially the.

Deao government of Yemen just because it's taken over such large swats of territory and with the military assistance of the government of the Islamic Republic of Iran which is the world's foremost State sponsor of terrorism they've been able to hold on to that territory and essentially push the Saudis back and keep a almost two.

Plus year tenuous ceasefire so the criticism that that legitimate international government which is essentially in Exile now is leving is to say that the US and the UK and other Coalition Partners who engage in these different rounds of strikes against the houthis are merely or at best degrading or trying to militarily respond to or.

Impose some kind of military costs onto the houthis and this is entirely disconnected from a larger strategy about peace in Yemen stability in Yemen Security in Yemen and ultimately to restore that internationally recognized government um so this is this is a criticism really you could say from.

Within and we know that the houthis launched that missile and struck a tanker with links to the UK it was on fire there for hours what does that say about the overall capabilities of the houthis it means that those capabilities remain and while it is good that you do see uh the US and the UK able to Target you know missiles quite literally being.

Put on launchers so think about literally preemption here they have such good ISR such good intelligence surveillance and reconnaissance to be able to catch these things in the field but nonetheless it means that Hy still have ample Supply ample stocks more than enough political will to use those stocks andless we forget due to the.

Recently intercepted uh transfer by Iran uh to the to the houthis in Yemen that was intercepted by sencom there is still a large foreign State Patron with capability and intent to furnish the houthis with these weapons and I want to elucidate one sharp point for you here the houthis are the only proxy of the Islamic Republic or the only member of.

This axis of resistance uh that has anti-ship ballistic missiles these missiles fly high and fast they have Electro Optical Seekers and they're designed to carry the payload of the ballistic missile at fast speeds towards a moving Target like a tanker if you look at the houthi tanker War here they're getting better and better and.

Better at targeting they're not sinking ships but they're getting better at targeting so quite literally you have the world's foremost State sponsor of terrorism have a proxy and a critical Waterway engaging in target practice with exceptionally damaging weapons and I do want to pull up this live image that we do have coming in out.

Of Tel Aviv Israel right now that is a protest by the families of the hostages still being held by Hamas this is month four of the war here and I want to talk about a potential deal does it appear that we are any closer to a deal that would lead to the release of these hostages that again are still being held all of these months.

Later in my view no I I know informed and intelligent uh folks might disagree but in my view no particularly in the aftermath of that Hamas push back of a recent offer uh that the Israelis have pooed for that longer pause that two months ceasefire you ultimately say uh I think right now U you know the the.

Government of BB in Israel right now is under pressure from set hostage families those rallies are not new they're being held quite often uh in different cities across the Jewish state um generating a domestic Vector of pressure for either net yaho to win the war or bring them home quite literally you got the saw on that video there there are placards and.

Slogans that say even in English bring them home uh so it's it's a it's a domestic source of pressure on the government and in the face of Hamas shooting down you know ceasefire offers or pause offers uh the government is going to find itself between a rock and a hard place and do what it can militarily to continue to bring the war.

To a close which is likely to provoke the same sets of reactions that we're seeing internationally and another big headline here the allegations against the United Nations Agency for Palestinian refugees saying that several employees played a role in the October 7th attacks that was a claim by Israel of course and now we know that.

There's a lot that has developed an investigation why is that all significant for Israel and are you surprised to see places like the US cutting their support to that agency uh I'm not surprised to hear or see the US beginning to scale back support for that agency some might say it was too little too late you know I I.

I live and work in Washington and you know the unwa campaign the debate about funding that organization is also something of a political football for too long the the debate over uh over pulling back the funding given where we thought some of it would be going where we thought some employees would be engaging in quite questionable activity.

Far far far before October 7th was unfortunately treated as a red herring now when you have some of these Alle ation coming out or being brought I should say more into the Limelight uh and the Israelis being able to Second them based on evidence they have on the ground uh it makes that case for you know pulling of the funding much much.

Stronger the question is how fast will it be done Ben and Ben talbl thank you so much for taking the time to join us as always and help break down the latest headlines regarding the War I say it time and time again but they pretty much develop it seems on an hourly basis at this point again thank you for taking the time to.

Be here anything else you want to add Before I Let You Go no I would just say in addition to looking at the various sources of domestic and foreign pressure on the Israelis uh as the war moves into the fourth month as you mentioned you know make no mistake the actor that sponsored October 7th the world's foremost State.

Sponsor of terrorism still is working on the same strategy which is to find the lowest cost way to bail out Hamas this is all about finding a way to bail out Hamas the houthi war against the tankers the previous houthi attempts to strike Israel and particularly aot and ashod the firing over 150 times of rockets mortars and even ballistic missiles and.

Drones uh in Iraq and Syria against us positions in Iraq and Syria is entirely designed to escalate to force Israel to deescalate uh there is of course the political utility of military force that the Islamic Republic is trying to leverage with its proxies and until it feels a counterveiling pressure you can expect this strategy to continue uh with.

The region suffering along as it does all right Ben and Ben talbl senior fellow at the foundation for defense of democracies as always thank you so much for taking the time to join us here and help break down the latest headlines we appreciate it pleasure thank you

Sharing is caring!