Biden, Netanyahu talk for first time in nearly 50 days

(JNS) U.S. President Joe Biden and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu spoke on Wednesday—their first phone call since Aug. 21, according to White House readouts of their communications.

The two leaders did not appear to speak on Oct. 7, the one-year anniversary of Hamas’s terror attack in southern Israel, and the bloodiest day in Jewish history since the Holocaust, and there were no public acknowledgments of communication between the two in the aftermath of Iran’s Oct. 1 missile barrage against the Jewish state.

Vice President Kamala Harris, the Democratic nominee for president, joined the two leaders on the call, during which they reportedly discussed Israel’s plans to respond to the attack, ahead of an Israeli cabinet vote on the issue.

The call, according to Israeli media, lasted about 50 minutes.

Biden has previously said that he would oppose an Israeli airstrike on Iran’s oil infrastructure, suggesting that such an attack would not be proportional, given that the roughly 180 ballistic missiles that the Islamic Republic fired at Israel did not result in any Israeli deaths or cause serious damage to infrastructure.