NW Democrat-Gazette

ISRAEL, U.S. slowly redo relations.

New leaders’ objectives hobbled by each nation’s politics

MATTHEW LEE AND JOSEPH KRAUSS

WASHINGTON — Their countries at crossroads, the new leaders of the United States and Israel have inherited a relationship that is at once imperiled by increasingly partisan domestic political considerations and deeply bound in history, and an engrained recognition that they need each other.

How President Joe Biden and Prime Minister Naftali Bennett manage that relationship will shape the prospects for peace and stability in the Middle East.

They are ushering in an era no longer defined by the powerful personality of long-serving Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who repeatedly defied the Obama administration and then reaped the rewards of a warm relationship with former President Donald Trump.

Bennett’s government says it wants to repair relations with the Democrats and restore bipartisan support in the U.S. for Israel. Biden, meanwhile, is pursuing a more balanced approach on the Palestinian conflict and Iran.

The relationship is critical to both countries. Israel has long regarded the U.S. as its closest ally and guarantor of its security and international standing, while the U.S. counts on Israel’s military and intelligence prowess in a turbulent Middle East.

But both leaders are also restrained by domestic politics.

Bennett leads an uncertain coalition of eight parties from across Israel’s political spectrum whose main point of convergence was on removing Netanyahu from power after 12 years. Biden is struggling to bridge a divide in his party where near-uniform support for Israel has eroded and a progressive wing wants the U.S. to do more to end Israel’s half-century occupation of lands the Palestinians want for a future state.

A key test will be on Iran. Biden has sought to return to the Iran nuclear deal that former President Barack Obama saw as his signature foreign policy achievement. Trump withdrew from the pact to cheers from pro-Israel U.S. lawmakers and Israel.

Though Iran has not yet accepted Biden’s offer for direct negotiations, indirect discussions on the deal continue in Vienna.

The new Israeli government remains staunchly opposed to Biden’s efforts to resurrect the deal. But it maintains it will discuss the issue privately.

In a conversation with Secretary of State Antony Blinken on Thursday, new Israeli foreign minister Yair Lapid said the two agreed on a “no surprises” policy and to keep lines of communication open.

Resolving differences over the Israeli-Palestinian conflict will be another significant challenge for the two leaders.

Biden has already moved to reverse Netanyahu-backed Trump policies that alienated the Palestinians and caused a near total rupture in official U.S.-Palestinian contacts. Almost immediately after taking office, Biden restored U.S. assistance to the Palestinians that Trump slashed, which in just four months, totals more than $300 million.

He announced his administration’s intent to re-open the U.S. Consulate in Jerusalem, closed by Trump, that handled Palestinian relations.

Yet, neither Biden nor Blinken has signaled any move to alter Trump’s most significant pro-Israel steps.

Those include his abandonment of longstanding U.S. policy that settlements are illegitimate under international law, his recognition of Jerusalem as Israel’s capital and his recognition of Israeli sovereignty over the Golan Heights, territory seized from Syria in the 1967 Arab-Israeli war. The administration also hopes to expand Arab-Israeli normalization agreements that the Trump administration forged in its final months in office.

In a call on Bennett’s first day in office, Biden affirmed his “steadfast support for the U.S.-Israel relationship” and “unwavering commitment to Israel’s security.”

Biden’s support for Israel’s heavy airstrikes during last month’s conflict with Gaza’s militant rulers Hamas, who fired thousands of rockets at Israel, angered progressive Democrats in Congress.

While well- established Democratic lawmakers remain unstintingly supportive of Israel and its absolute right to defend itself, the growing number of progressive voices in their caucus have turned the issue into a political hot potato.

In two phone conversations with Lapid over the last week, Blinken has spoken of “the need to improve Israeli-Palestinian relations in practical ways” and pledged to deepen Arab-Israeli ties.

It’s not clear that the new government will be responsive.

Centrist members like Lapid and Defense Minister Benny Gantz clearly want to adopt a more cooperative approach with the Biden administration, while Bennett and his right-wing partners face pressure from their base to maintain Netanyahu’s hardline approach, not only on Iran but on the conflict with the Palestinians.

The Israeli government already faces tough decisions, including whether to evacuate an unauthorized settlement outpost established last month and whether to intervene in the legal process through which settler organizations are trying to evict dozens of Palestinian families from their homes in east Jerusalem.

The Biden administration is pressing Israel to refrain from any unilateral steps — such as settlement expansion or evictions — that could hinder the eventual revival of the peace process, which has been neglected for more than a decade. But Washington has yet to issue public condemnations of settlement activity beyond general calls for both sides to refrain from unilateral steps that could inflame tensions or harm prospects for an eventual peace deal.

Bennett is a strong supporter of the settlements and is opposed to Palestinian statehood, but he is also seen by many as a pragmatist.

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2021-06-21T07:00:00.0000000Z

2021-06-21T07:00:00.0000000Z

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