The scramble to rewrite Biden’s record on Gaza

Former Biden adviser Phil Gordon has criticized Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu for making a 2024 Gaza deal "impossible." In an X post, Gordon stated that Netanyahu added numerous conditions to the deal, causing it to be unfeasible for another six months. During this time, nearly 9,000 more Palestinians were killed, and additional Israeli hostages perished, including six who were executed by Hamas in August.

Gordon elaborated that the Israeli demands included maintaining forces along Gaza's entire border with Egypt and a new mechanism to vet Gazans returning to the north. Both these conditions were subsequently removed from the final agreement in January 2025. Gordon's remarks come in the wake of an interview with Avi Gil, Netanyahu's military secretary until May 2024, who also alleged that Netanyahu missed opportunities to free hostages alive due to the threat to his political career.

Gil further claimed that Netanyahu was repeatedly cautioned before the October 7, 2023 attacks, and that staff members altered his phone records. Despite these claims, Netanyahu supporters are using Brett McGurk's book and interviews to defend Netanyahu's actions during the conflict. However, Gordon asserts that the majority of his former colleagues believe President Biden should have exerted greater pressure on Israel to manage the war more effectively and hasten its conclusion.

Of note, McGurk's account underscores that Netanyahu did not prioritize hostages and that when U.S. pressure was applied—most notably after the World Central Kitchen strike—it proved successful. The Israeli adjustments to the deal involved retaining Israeli forces along Gaza's border with Egypt and implementing a screening process for Gazans returning to northern Gaza, both of which were subsequently dropped in the January 2025 agreement.

It remains clear that October 7 took place during Netanyahu's tenure, and he prioritized "total victory" and his political coalition over a hostage deal or the end of the war. This approach has led to a catastrophic situation for Israel, with diminished international support and strained relations with the United States. There was no simple path to resolving the Gaza issue, but Netanyahu's leadership unquestionably exacerbated the crisis.