For all their hand wringing over alleged foreign interference in US elections, certain elements in the American political scene seem worryingly comfortable meddling in the democratic processes of allied nations.

To the point: A former senior White House adviser has confirmed to Israeli media that the rumors are true–former US President Joe Biden and his administration sought to oust Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu from power.

In an interview aired last week by Israel’s Channel 13 News, former Biden administration adviser Ilan Goldenberg acknowledged that the White House wanted Bibi out, even at the height of what Israelis saw as their second war of independence.

The Biden White House was frustrated that Netanyahu wouldn’t compromise with Hamas and end the war, and hoped that getting someone else into the prime minister’s chair might alter the situation.

At the time, Benny Gantz was polling strong and Netanyahu’s approval rating was plummeting. Biden was popular in Israel then, having just helped to broker the first hostage release deal in November of 2023, and Goldenberg says US officials believed that the president could take certain actions to help nudge Israel toward an early election, or another form of regime change.

“The idea was to either force Netanyahu to come on board with [a compromise deal], or scramble Israeli politics and see if you could trigger elections, or God knows what. That’s what people were saying [in the White House] because it’s not going anywhere good,” Goldenberg told Channel 13.

רביב דרוקר – ישר מהמקפצה.
מה אתה שח, דרוקר. באמת?
ממש לא ידענו שממשל ביידן ניסה להפיל את ממשלת ישראל באמצע מלחמה. מזל שנזכרת לגלות לנו.
אז בואו רק נוסיף כאן: אילן גולדנברג זה לא סתם “יועץ בבית הלבן”. אילן גולדנברג היה חלק ממנגנון הסנקציות נגד ישראלים בימין. מן הסתם היו כאן… pic.twitter.com/l5oYorJtG9

— Gadi Taub שומר סף (@GadiTaub1) April 25, 2025

Goldenberg did not “come clean” in order to bolster Netanyahu. To the contrary, he is a harsh critic of the current Israeli government and its policies. He, and others in the former administration, view their proposed interference in Israel’s democratic process as entirely legitimate.

Ilan Goldenberg was a senior member of former US President Barack Obama’s Israeli-Palestinian negotiations team, and a fierce advocate of the Iran nuclear deal brokered by that administration. During the Biden administration, he worked at the Department of Defense and then as a senior Middle East adviser to then-Vice President Kamala Harris. In August 2023, he joined Harris’ presidential campaign to help reach Jewish voters.

Born in Israel and raised in New Jersey, Goldenberg renounced his Israeli citizenship when working with the government and Pentagon on Iran policy.

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