Netanyahu was a source of unfounded support for Donald Trump in office, without publicly criticizing the unbelievable and often depressing President. The 71-year-old celebrated almost every foreign policy campaign of the Trump administration in the Middle East, to become his most visible international cheerleader.
With an upcoming election, a third national lockout, and an imminent resumption of his lawsuit on corruption charges, Israel’s longest-serving leader must work alongside Trump’s outlaw from the Oval Office.
Biden’s relationship with Israel stretches back nearly half a century to when he met then – Prime Minister Golda Meir in 1973 as the grandfather of a freshman from Delaware. Since then, it has grown into a “very emotional connection to Israel,” one Obama administration official told CNN. “He sees Israel through that lens and as a true democracy in an area not marked as such.”
Biden and Netanyahu developed the relationship in the 1980s, when Biden was a young senator serving on the Foreign Relations Committee and Netanyahu served at the Israeli embassy in Washington, DC. Over the years, the two got to know each other, met each other ‘s families, and kept in touch as Netanyahu rose through politics to become Israel’ s prime minister in 1996.
When Netanyahu lost his election to Ehud Barak three years later, “Biden stayed in touch with him, he wrote a note from time to time, things that politicians would not normally do,” a source said. who knew the relationship. “I know Bibi valued him. Biden didn’t treat him the way he did before.” As the years passed, Netanyahu stopped by Biden’s office to visit on his trips to Washington.
But the friendship was confirmed when Biden became vice president of Barack Obama. Netanyahu humbly addressed Obama on Middle Eastern politics in the White House in 2011, and then appeared in his 2019 election campaign.
When Biden visited Israel in 2010, the Netanyahu government declared a new settlement building in East Jerusalem, which Secretary of State Hillary Clinton then called a “disgrace.”
“The later years of the Obama administration were difficult. Some of the team will remember that, but [Biden is] not going to raise any interest in easing the tension, “said one source familiar with the alliance. Netanyahu was fighting with Obama about talks with the Palestinians, then again more openly over Iran’s nuclear deal.
‘I don’t agree with something harmful you say, but I love you’
But the dinamics have changed.
Netanyahu has long been a political chameleon, a move from the Prime Minister who backed a two-state solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict in a keynote speech in 2009 to the leader who backed Trump’s vision for peace. Middle East ten years later, which abolished gin the traditional notion of two states for two peoples. He has led centralized, center-right, and right-wing governments in his 14 years in office but time has not been as good for him – or as easy for him – as the Trump administration. Trump was Netanyahu’s gift that kept him giving.
In trade, Netanyahu seemed to align Israel ever more closely with the Republican Party, even going so far as to announce a new settlement in the Golan Heights after the former President sitting, called Trump Heights. When Netanyahu joined Trump at the White House for the signing of the Treaty of Abraham with the Foreign Ministers of the Emirati and Bahraini, the Israeli leader did not meet with any Democratic politicians.
Ron Dermer, Israel’s Ambassador to the U.S. and one of Netanyahu’s closest, visited the White House frequently. Dermer’s term ended on the day Biden’s administration took office.
Israeli Minister Tzachi Hanegbi maintains that Netanyahu’s policies were never pro-Republican or pro-Democratic, but only in line with Israel’s needs.
“Our policy is always bipartisan,” Hanegbi said, “but of course [Netanyahu] he was always very satisfied with the policies of Trump. “
“Having a strong relationship with the Biden administration – and having a strong relationship with the new administration – does not mean that we are pro-Democrat and anti-Republican,” he said. connection, mutual recognition the passion of the country – these are the things that create credibility for each other ‘s policies. “
Should Netanyahu treat Biden as a friend or foe?
But Netanyahu is now in the middle of a fourth election campaign in two years, with no guarantee that the country can break the cycle of endless elections. Netanyahu gained political advantage from attacking Obama, showing the Israeli public that he had the fortune to stand with the American leader. Now he has to decide whether to do so under Biden.
“Netanyahu is a top diplomat, but when he came to the U.S., he bears the burden of almost apparent obedience to the GOP,” said Dani Dayan, former Consul General of New York in Israel and candidate for the New Hope party. challenger Likud Netanyahu in the March 23 election. “The next Israeli Prime Minister will have a lot to do to restore the bipartisan relationship.”
Netanyahu is under attack from Gideon Sa’ar, an ideological right-wing politician who split from Likud Netanyahu’s party to form a New Hope party. Despite Sa’ar’s opposition to territorial concessions and a two-state solution, he has pledged to restore bipartisan support for Israel, positioning himself as a better partner for Biden.
“I will rebuild Israel’s good and fair relations with both sides,” Sa’ar promised in a Zoom meeting with AIPAC. “As Prime Minister, I will work with President Biden and his administration to put pressure on on the importance of not returning to the previous contract. “
Biden has a strong belief in a foreign policy built, in part, on personal relations, analysts told CNN, but his relationship with Netanyahu is likely to be marked by political pressure in the coming months. The choice is only one challenge, and it may not even be the first with the ability to emphasize the relationship.
Biden’s administrative guidance on a nuclear deal with Iran is at the top of the priority list for Israel. The original nuclear deal was the source of some of the most bitter controversies between Obama and Netanyahu, cited in the Prime Minister’s decision to speak ahead of a joint session of Congress in 2015, a speech Obama did not attend.
“Israel’s relationship with Obama was frozen, they got off to a bad start and they never got over it,” said David Makovsky, director at the Washington Institute for Eastern Studies. “But Biden is someone Israel knows. He’s been around for a long time.”
However, Biden is not expected to put Israel-Palestinian talks too high on his agenda, according to one Obama official working in the region, who said the administration is not “ to spend the political capital ”on the issue.
“With Biden, this view that he is out there will not be available [Netanyahu], “said former diplomat Dennis Ross, a former mediator and adviser in the Middle East to three U.S. administrations.
“That would not be this relationship,” Ross said. “There was a view that grew up in Israel that Obama was not fair to Israel. It stands up to the president of America who does not look fair as a good thing in Israel. Standing up to an American president who is seen as fair is not good. Biden is thought to be moderate. “
CNN’s Andrew Carey and Vivian Salama contributed to this report.