Israel hopes to end personal tensions between Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and US President Joe Biden over their differences on Iran’s nuclear issue by devoting speeches on the subject to senior staff an Israeli official said.
Netanyahu’s foreign policy fortunes have waned since Republican President Donald Trump’s Biden, who withdrew the United States from world powers’ Iran’s 2015 nuclear deal, saw it as too beneficial for Tehran – a view that Israel divided.
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Then-US VP Joe Biden meets with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu during his visit to Israel in 2016
(Photo: GPO)
Biden, a Democrat, wants to get back to the treaty. That has set the stage for potential new series in the US-Israel alliance.
On Monday, Netanyahu allowed Defense Minister Benny Gantz and Foreign Minister Gabi Ashkenazi to show Israel’s united face on Iran – even as the main guard runs against the two deputies in an election in March.
An official minute of Monday’s meeting said it was agreed that Israel’s misconceptions about it, and proposals for improvements, would be reiterated by Netanyahu’s National Security Council to the National Security Council in the White House.
“The intention is to work everything out at that stage, and keep that communication channel open,” the official told Reuters Tuesday on condition of anonymity. “Of course this has advantages where there is a ‘cold shoulder’ risk at the leader level.”
Citing anonymous sources involved in the meeting, the Army reported the Netanyahu and the other ministers had decided to keep disputes with Biden “under the radar” for now.
Netanyahu’s office declined to comment.
When the 2015 contract was being drawn up, Netanyahu’s complaint – including a speech he delivered to the U.S. Congress – followed controversies with the then Barack Obama Democratic administration, of which Biden was vice president.
Netanyahu’s office said on Friday that Israel was “in close contact” with Washington on the issue, saying that a return to the 2015 treaty would “Iran’s path to a nuclear arsenal”.
Israel has previously stated that it could cancel Iran ‘s talks with Washington if a new treaty is reached which it is still opposed to, in case such talks allow.
Iran, which is denying the bomb, began breaking the treaty in 2019, after the U.S. withdrew. He recently halted breaches and was cool to Thursday’s administration’s announcement that Washington was ready to talk about returning to each other to surrender.
Israel is said to be the only nuclear arsenal in the region, something it does not affirm or reject under an “ambiguity” policy designed to keep enemies away and avoid arms races.