Ex-Biden official Netanyahu feared military aid cut

What happened

• Former Biden administration official Brett McGurk, in an account published in The Atlantic, said Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu came away from an April 2024 call believing Washington was about to halt military supplies to Israel, Haaretz reported.Haaretz
• According to that account, then-President Joe Biden confronted Netanyahu in blunt, profane terms in early April 2024 over Israel's conduct of the Gaza war.Haaretz
• Separately, a public clash erupted between Netanyahu and former Shin Bet chief Ronen Bar over what each knew before the October 7 attack, with Netanyahu accusing Bar of failures and crimes and of not warning him of danger the night before.YnetnewsThe Times of Israel
• Bar said he would sue Netanyahu for defamation, arguing the prime minister released transcripts selectively, and demanded the records be published in full.The Times of IsraelYnetnews
• Ynet reported that 55 pages Netanyahu authorized in February contain only excerpts, and that reporting by Ronen Bergman indicates Bar also urged confronting Yahya Sinwar and sought to prepare a plan to kill Sinwar and Mohammed Deif — material left out of the released passages, while the full transcript remains unpublished.Ynetnews

Why it matters

Both disputes bear on how Israel's wartime decisions were made and on who answers for the failures of October 7, questions still before the State Comptroller and the courts.YnetnewsHaaretz