While affirming his support for Israels war against Hamas, President Joe Biden suggested in remarks at a Washington, D.C., campaign fundraiser on Tuesday that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu might need to assemble a new governing coalition if there is ever to be hope for a peaceful resolution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

As I said after the [Oct. 7] attack, the safety of the Jewish people, the literal security of Israel as an independent Jewish state is literally at stake in Israels war against Hamas, Biden said, according to a transcript of his remarks provided by the White House. But it is unshakeable, our commitment to Israel.

Biden also said that he had personally spent hours talking to Qatari, Egyptian and Israeli officials, in an effort to secure the release of the more than 100 hostages still held by Hamas in Gaza.

But later in his remarks to a fundraiser hosted by Lee Rosy Rosenberg, a board member of the America Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC), Biden shifted to criticism of the Israeli government, which he described as the most conservative government in Israeli history and fundamentally opposed to the two-state solution.

Biden then said that Netanyahu would need to change presumably, to moderate to achieve a long-term solution for the region.

Biden suggested though that that might not be possible with Netanyahus current governing coalition, which includes far-right, ultranationalist parties. This government in Israel is making it very difficult for him to move, Biden said.

Biden singled out Itamar Ben-Gvir, who has a record of supporting violent Israeli extremists and is now Israels national security minister, by name.

Ben-Gvir and company and the new folks, they they dont want anything remotely approaching a two-state solution, he said.

Biden also said that Palestinian leaders bear their share of the blame for the current conflict. The Palestinians have not been governed well at all, he said.

Still, even as he promised that Israel would always be able to count on U.S. support, Biden warned that European and broader global backing is more tenuous.

Israel has most of the world supporting it, Biden said. But theyre starting to lose that support by the indiscriminate bombing that takes place.

And the president, who had been working tirelessly before the war to negotiate a peace agreement between Israel and Saudi Arabia, emphasized his concerns about the potentially negative effects of a prolonged war and right-wing Israeli governance on his vision for regional harmony.

We have an opportunity to begin to unite the region unite the region. And they still want to do it, Biden said, referring to allies of the United States in the Arab world. But we have to make sure that that Bibi understands that hes got to make some moves to strengthen [the Palestinian Authority] strengthen it, change it, move it.

You cannot say theres no Palestinian state at all in the future, he added. And thats going to be the hard part.

However, it is unclear how receptive Netanyahu will be to Bidens recommendations. On Tuesday, the Israeli leader vowed to defy the United States calls to have the Palestinian Authority, the Palestinian entity that governs part of the occupied West Bank, take over in Gaza after Israels war concludes.