US President Joe Biden referred to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu as “a bad f***ing guy”, a new book alleges.
War, the latest book by renowned US journalist Bob Woodward, promises to tell the “behind-the-scenes story” of the ongoing Ukraine and Middle East wars, along with the “struggle for the American presidency”.
In it, Woodward claims Biden has used profanity-laden language when referring to both Netanyahu, and Russian President Vladimir Putin.
Biden met with Netanyahu in Israel last October, on a solidarity visit following the October 7 attacks which saw Hamas fighters rampage into Israel, killing around 1,200 people and seizing around 250 hostages.
The US administration has since pledged staunch support for Israel, as the country has retaliated with a military campaign that has reduced much of Gaza to rubble and reportedly killed more than 40,000 Palestinians.
But according to Woodward, Biden made profanity-laden comments about Netanyahu in spring this year, as Israel’s attack on Gaza intensified.
According to CNN which has seen a copy of the new book, Woodward alleges that Biden said privately to one of his associates: “That son of a bitch, Bibi Netanyahu, he’s a bad guy. He’s a bad f***ing guy!”
According to Woodward’s book, shortly after Russia’s February 2022 invasion of Ukraine, Biden Putin as “the epitome of evil”.
He reportedly said to advisers in the Oval Office: “That f***ing Putin. Putin is evil. We are dealing with the epitome of evil.”
Publisher Simon & Schuster describes War as “an intimate and sweeping account of one of the most tumultuous periods in presidential politics and American history”.
The publisher says Woodward’s “unrivalled, inside-the-room” reporting paints a picture of Biden as he manages the war in Ukraine, and the US response to the bloody Middle East conflict between Israel and Hamas.
“Two-time Pulitzer prize winner Bob Woodward tells the revelatory, behind-the-scenes story of three wars – Ukraine, the Middle East and the struggle for the American presidency,” says its website.
“We see President Joe Biden and his top advisers in tense conversations with Russian president Vladimir Putin, Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky. We also see Donald Trump conducting a shadow presidency and seeking to regain political power.
“Woodward reveals the extraordinary complexity and consequence of wartime back-channel diplomacy and decision-making to deter the use of nuclear weapons and a rapid slide into World War III,” it continues.
Woodward, an American investigative journalist who spent years working for The Washington Post, has penned 22 books, covering every president from Nixon to Biden. They include three New York Times bestsellers on President Trump.
His 1974 book All the President’s Men, co-written with his former Post colleague Carl Bernstein, tells how the pair investigated the 1972 break-in at the Watergate Office Building in Washington, and the resulting Watergate political scandal.
War is due to be published next Tuesday (October 15).
