Biden, Netanyahu End Telephone Silence

For the first time since Dec. 23, when President Biden hung up on Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in frustration, the two leaders had a phone conversation on Friday. "The call was good," a senior Israeli official told Axios, saying it lasted about 40 minutes and included updates on the military situation in Gaza and Lebanon. The almost monthlong silence reflects the increasing differences over the Israel-Hamas war and its aftermath, per the AP. Most recently, US officials were displeased by Netanyahu's statement Thursday in opposition to an independent Palestinian state. Biden returned to the subject in Friday's conversation.

John Kirby, the White House National Security Council spokesperson, said the US isn't trying to force Israel to change that policy. "But we can't talk about post-war Gaza without discussing the Palestinian people's aspirations and governance in Gaza," he said. Neither country shows indications of changing its position, per the AP, and when a reporter asked Biden on Friday if a two-state solution is impossible as long as Netanyahu remains in office, Biden said, "No, it's not." Biden and Netanyahu spoke nearly every other day during the first two months of the war, per Axios, until the president last month grew frustrated and announced that the "conversation is over." (More Israel-Hamas war stories.)