A crisis is looming in U. S. -Israel relations. This is one of the most demanding foreign policy situations Joe Biden will face in the next two years. Indeed, this will test, and likely irrevocably alter, the close ties that have endured many difficult situations since Israel’s founding.
The United States was the first country in the world to recognize Israel. President Harry Truman’s administration did so 11 minutes after the birth of the new country was declared on May 14, 1948. USA. The U. S. crisis for Israel has been important to that country’s survival ever since. But, thanks to the carelessness of Benjamin Netanyahu, who will soon become Israel’s next prime minister, and his far-right ers in Israel and the United States, it is now fair to wonder if this special appointment will last much longer than his 75th birthday next spring.
To be sure, President Biden tried to send a message that what was once considered one of America’s most important strategic partnerships in the world is still in shape. In July, he insisted it was “deeper and stronger” than ever. Following Netanyahu’s recent election success, Biden said America’s commitment to Israel is “indisputable. “
Netanyahu repeated the language “stronger than ever. ” But then he set out to make a series of decisions that now have close observers deeply involved in the plans of the guy who is Israel’s prime minister for life and their implications for Israel, the Palestinians and others. and what the US ambassador to Israel, Tom Nides, cited as the “unbreakable bond” between Washington and Jerusalem.
Then, the vice president of the United States. U. S. Joe Biden (left) and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu look at each other in March 2016.
Among Netanyahu’s most worrying decisions is far-right Otzma Yehudit party leader Itamar Ben Gvir as national security minister in his next cabinet. This role will come with monitoring Israeli police and Israeli settlements in the West Bank.
Netanyahu has courted the Israeli far right in its efforts to return to force and Ben Gvir has been one of the biggest and most disturbing beneficiaries of this effort. Ben Gvir convicted 15 years ago for inciting racism against Arabs and for supporting an organization intended as a terrorist organization across the United States and Israel.
While it has been noted that Ben Gvir seeks to moderate some of his more excessive prospects in the weeks leading up to and after coalition formation, concerns about him flared up this week when it was reported that he would announce another extremist militant as his team. leader.
Itamar Ben Gvir promoted to Israel’s Minister of National Security.
Israeli newspapers called Chanamel Dorfman the “most likely candidate” for the post. This is despite the fact that Dorfman, who has been deeply concerned about efforts to expand Israeli settlements in the West Bank, has called Israeli police forces “anti-Semitic” and “mafia. “
Another extremist appointed to the new administration, Bezalel Smotrich, seems likely to be in the category of the firm that oversees draft deal structures. He has been deeply critical of efforts beyond Israel to demolish illegal deals and encouraged their expansion, even opposing the will beyond Israeli governments.
In addition, the incoming coalition government pledged to hand over a high-level post to far-right leader Avi Maoz, whose party is anti-Arab and anti-LGBTQ. This prompted outgoing Prime Minister Yair Lapid to describe the composition of the new government as “completely insane”.
Far-right Israeli lawmaker Avi Maoz.
U. S. officials have been deeply involved in those appointments. One described them to me as “potentially destabilizing” for U. S. -Israel relations. Others said they would meet with them, regardless of how long they were appointed.
The LA Times quoted the former U. S. ambassador. in Israel, Daniel Kurtzer, saying, “We supply about $4 billion a year to the (Israeli) Ministry of Defense. . . And do we need to put our cash in the hands of those guys?Another former US ambassador, Martin Indyk, warned that the two countries were heading into a “difficult” era in their relations.
Former Israeli diplomat Alon Pinkas told me: “Dating may have a turning point in the next 12 months. . . What is at stake is not a specific policy toward Iran or the Palestinians, but the core concept of “shared values. “”which is undermined by the composition, nature and expected policies of the new administration. “
The challenge is exacerbated in the eyes of Pinkas, who served as Israel’s consul general in New York and senior adviser to several Israeli prime ministers, because “Netanyahu has consciously and deliberately politicized, with the help of politically expedient Republicans, has politicized the Israel factor in the United States and reshaped it from an ostensibly bipartisan factor to a hyperpartisan factor by unequivocally aligning himself with the GOP MAGA, alienating both congressional Democrats and rank-and-file Democrats and most American Jews.
There is no doubt about the latter. Netanyahu has long selected sides in American politics, allying himself largely with the American right and, in particular, Donald Trump. Netanyahu’s degree of closeness to Trump and the right can be noted in his general silence after Trump’s dinner with the openly anti-Semitic Nick. Fuentes and Kanye West.
That silence is striking even as Republicans like former Vice President Mike Pence and Trump’s former ambassador to Israel, David Friedman, have condemned the former president. costs, even if it is the welfare of American Jews. He, like Trump, is more interested in the conquest of force than in principles, and for now that includes building between white supremacists and evangelicals, damn Jewish interests. .
As Pinkas said in a column for Haaretz, “Breaking news to American Jewish friends: Israel just doesn’t care about you. “
Another prominent Israeli, history professor Yuval Noah Harari, advised where a U. S. dating check is most likely to occur. He argued in an interview with CNN that many in Israel, Netanyahu’s base of support, have gone from a “trust in the two-state solution to an implicit trust in the ‘3-class solution'” that included “Jews, who have all rights, Arabs, who have rights; and other Arabs who have little or no rights.
Taken with a more competitive stance toward Israeli settlement expansion in the occupied territories, the leadership of officials who are more docile to violence and discrimination against Palestinians, and the erosion of the concept of shared values cited through Pinkas, Harari’s replacement describes as likely to lead to deepening tensions between the United States and Israel.
Concern about this drift can be felt in recent statements through the State Department, such as Nides’ that “our position is quite clear: we do not annex. We will fight any attempt to do so. ” – State Solution and said in the wake of the recent Israeli elections: “We hope that all Israeli government officials will continue to show the values of an open and democratic society, adding tolerance and respect for everyone in civil society, especially minority groups. “
Hopes, of course, are not effective policies. Thus, the Biden administration is already actively working to mitigate the most likely tensions while also making its position on those issues transparent. A notable recent example of this is President Biden’s resolution. appoint a special representative for Palestinian affairs, Hady Amr.
Whatever action is taken now, however, the coming months and weeks are likely to prove controversial. Platitudes about nature beyond dating are unlikely to be an effective countermeasure. This is not due to a lack of sincerity in the component. On the contrary, the central challenge is that Netanyahu doesn’t seem to care about management’s opinion any more than he cares about being seen as a selection of sides. in American politics.
He has engaged Israel on a collision course with his ultimate friend. This is because this quote is secondary to his own preference for exercising power. If this kind of political narcissism means sleeping with crazy and harmful extremists, adopting racist policies and exploding criticism dating around the world, so be it.
Americans can perceive this phenomenon better than most.
The questions presented to us will diminish the essence of the kind of friendship between the United States and Israel. Are we sure enough of our bonds to be willing to talk if our friend acts recklessly or worse?Can we recover from what will likely be the most serious control?Have you ever faced dating?
No one knows the answer to those questions, but they are confident in the creativity and determination of even diplomats and policymakers with the utmost experience on Biden’s highly skilled foreign policy team.