WH Tells Israel to End ‘Intense’ War in Time for Presidential Election

Sarah Arnold reporting for Townhall 

As the Israel-Hamas war rages on, President Joe Biden continues to fall short of voter approval, which has split the Democratic Party. 

With the 2024 presidential election nearing, White House National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan is urging Israeli leaders to end its "intense" phase of fighting against Hamas in Gaza. 

Israeli defense minister Yoav Gallant reportedly told Sullivan that the war is expected to last several more months in an effort to ensure Hamas terrorists are destroyed— at least militarily and administratively. The Biden Administration reportedly hopes for the transition within the next three weeks. 

The Times of Israel details the "intense, detailed conversations" Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Sullivan had as follows: 

U.S. National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan, who is in Israel today and tomorrow, tells Channel 12 that he and his team held "intense, detailed conversations" with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and the war cabinet on when the IDF will transition away from high-intensity fighting in Gaza to focus on lower intensity fighting that would include targeting Hamas's top leaders. "Israel is going to continue to conduct its military efforts to get after Hamas for some time because, for example, they're going to continue to hunt the top leaders of Hamas, Sinwar and Deif and Issa, and we don't know exactly how long that will take," Sullivan says. "So the issue really is when does Israel shift from the high-intensity military operations that are underway today to a different phase of this conflict, one that's more precise, more targeted, more driven towards things like those high-value individuals?… We had a very constructive conversation about these phases."

Republicans have insisted that if former President Trump were still in office, the heinous Oct. 7 attacks on Israel would never have happened. They have often pointed to the fact that Biden's weak foreign policy allowed the war to break out—warning a similar terrorist attack could soon occur on U.S. soil. 

Meanwhile, White House national security aide John Kirby refused to confirm the talks between Israel and Sullivan. However, he acknowledged that Sullivan "did talk about the possible transitioning from what we would call high-intensity operations — which is what we're seeing them do now — to lower-intensity operations sometime in the near future."

According to a recent Wall Street Journal, Biden's handling of the war had an approval rating of just 37 percent among voters.