Biden speaks to Netanyahu as US left out of Israel's Iran retaliatory attack plans

First call since August as strains between centre-left and far-right leaders grow

US President Joe Biden on the phone with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on April 4. Reuters

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US President Joe Biden and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu spoke on Wednesday for the first time since August, as tension increases between the two and Israel remains quiet about its plans to retaliate against Iran's missile attack last week.

Since they last spoke, Mr Netanyahu's government has launched attacks against Iran-backed Hezbollah, sometimes only notifying Washington afterwards, such as with last month's killing of Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah.

Israeli Defence Minister Yoav Gallant was supposed to visit the Pentagon on Wednesday to discuss Israel's operations. But Israel scrapped the visit at the last minute as it continues its ground invasion of Lebanon and its year-long campaign in Gaza. Israeli media reported that Mr Netanyahu had wanted to speak with Mr Biden first.

Veteran US journalist Bob Woodward on Tuesday published his latest book, War, that included revelations about Mr Biden's frustrations with Mr Netanyahu, who has sidelined the US leader and ignored US-backed calls for ceasefires in Gaza and Lebanon.

The last time Mr Biden held a call with Mr Netanyahu was on August 21, according to the White House.

The Israeli leader has vowed to retaliate after Iran fired nearly 200 ballistic missiles at Israel last week. Mr Biden, who has less than four months remaining in office, has said that he would not support Israeli strikes on Iranian oil installations or nuclear sites, and has urged Israel to respond “proportionately”.

Press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said Wednesday's 30-minute call was "direct, productive" and addressed a range of issues. She said Vice President Kamala Harris had joined the call.

"The President affirmed Israel’s right to protect its citizens from Hezbollah, which has fired thousands of missiles and rockets into Israel over the past year alone, while emphasising the need to minimise harm to civilians, in particular in the densely populated areas of Beirut," according to the White House.

"The President affirmed his ironclad commitment to Israel’s security. He condemned unequivocally Iran’s ballistic missile attack against Israel on October 1."

Israeli ambassador to the UN Danny Danon said the call was "positive", but added that Israel would retaliate against Iran.

"I want to make it clear it was the largest attack in history, what we experienced the last week, coming from Iran," Mr Danon said. "We will choose the locations. It will be painful for the Iranian regime."

Mr Biden has maintained that Israel has a right to go after Iranian-backed groups that have launched attacks against it, including Hamas and Hezbollah. But he is facing criticism at home and abroad over his staunch military and diplomatic support of Israel, as is Ms Harris, the Democratic presidential candidate in the November 5 election.

The US had tried – and failed – to mediate a ceasefire and hostage release deal to end the Israel-Gaza war that has killed more than 42,000 Palestinians and reduced much of the coastal enclave to rubble. It began after the Hamas-led attacks on southern Israel on October 7, 2023, in which 1,200 people were killed.

The US also initially sought to broker a 21-day ceasefire in Lebanon.

Israel invaded southern Lebanon on October 1 in what it said would be a “limited” effort to destroy Hezbollah. But Mr Netanyahu has since used increasingly stronger language, bringing concerns of a drawn-out war in the country, which will be similar to that in Gaza.

More than 2,000 people have been killed in Lebanon so far and aerial footage on Wednesday showed at least two villages had been completely flattened.

Adla Massoud contributed to this report from the UN