to the Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu Special and proven expertise in this special field. It seems particularly suitable for him these days as head of an extreme right-wing religious government: Netanyahu knows and enjoys confronting the White House, especially likes to defiantly go beyond administrators and mock the manners that characterize the channels of relations between Israel and the US.
The US ambassador to Israel in a message to the government: “The commitment to democracy makes it possible to protect Israel”
If we use the definition “reluctance”, which Netanyahu has been marketing in recent days as a warning against the threat of air force pilots in the reserve not to complete their service in protest of the legal reform that his government is initiating and pushing – this definition, “reluctance”, perfectly fits his destructive conduct in the field of relations between Jerusalem and Washington.
If in regards to the legal reform, there is an enthusiastic public debate about the consequences of its implementation, in regards to the reform that Netanyahu is leading and implementing in Israel-US relations, there is no debate about the results – they are already felt and devastating. We will come back to discuss the results. According to Netanyahu, “the refusals ( of the reserve pilots) threatens our existence.” Even those who worry and are anxious about this refusal, not everyone will agree that it is a threat to Israel’s existence.
The trampling of the relations that are traditionally rooted in the history of the two countries, is a tangible-concrete threat that concerns the existence of Israel – and the Prime Minister knows this more than anyone else. Those who are not so aware of this fact, or are too busy to pay attention to it, are the great majority of Israelis.
The opposition to the legal reform ignited a mass popular protest movement and revealed manifestations of opposition of an unprecedented nature and scope. The destruction of relations between Israel and the friendly superpower, which is gaining momentum before our eyes, is happening almost in silence, with indifference. Every now and then an opinion piece is published warning of the rudeness shown by Netanyahu or one of his ministers in front of and towards the US. But this does not deserve a protest movement. Far from it. Israel’s foreign policy has never been the special concern of the majority of the country’s citizens, and its problems have never been on the scale the priorities of their employer.
The point is that this time it is a threat, a deliberate plot that has already caused damage and is expected to gain strength and acceleration in the future. But it does not seem that harassment of an existential field such as Israel-US relations, and one that is done by a prime minister and ministers, provokes a popular protest movement.
Prefer Republicans
The reluctance and arrogance in relations with the US is what Netanyahu prefers to demonstrate towards democratic presidents and administrations. He does not like Washington when it is under the control of the Democratic Party. Netanyahu has a warm spot in his heart for Republican presidents and administrations. He has no heart at all for a democratic administration. In the chapters of history, Netanyahu’s relationship with Barack Obama proves how much the Prime Minister made light of the President and mocked him.
Netanyahu’s speech before a joint session of the Senate and Congress, in which he condemned the White House’s policy towards Iran, was etched in the history of Israel-US relations, and in fact in the field of foreign relations between democracies, as an embarrassing display of boldness – and a personal insult to the incumbent president, who was sitting a few hundred yards from the podium where Netanyahu stood and spoke.
Obama and his deputy at the time, Joe Biden, held back and avoided a public response to the offensive behavior that Netanyahu displayed in his speech to the president and the top of the administration. At the time it was no secret that Obama felt hurt and angry; Which did not prevent him from approving an aid program for Israel in the amount of over 30 billion dollars until the year 2029. However, as a small revenge, Obama ordered his ambassador to the UN, Samantha Power, not to veto a resolution condemning Israel on the issue of settlements in the Security Council, but to content himself with avoiding By the end of Obama’s term, his relationship with Netanyahu was already unstable and almost hostile.
Netanyahu, for his part, also took care to demonstrate the disdain he has for the democratic White House. Precisely during the stay of then Vice President Biden on an official visit to Jerusalem, the Netanyahu government decided on the establishment of new settlements – which at the time was interpreted as a stinging personal insult to the Vice President, known as a friend of Israel. In the last weeks of his term as prime minister in 2021, Netanyahu had time to take another insulting and offensive move towards a democratic president – the same Biden, who did not even have time to warm his chair in the White House. Netanyahu made a decision to send to Washington not a full-time Israeli ambassador but a part-time ambassador. For a few months, Gilad Erdan indeed served as half-ambassador in Washington and half-ambassador to the United Nations. This is what Netanyahu wanted and achieved – another show of contempt and rejection of a democratic president.
messenger of destruction
At the time, the person who helped Netanyahu obtain a special invitation to deliver a speech at a joint session of the Senate and Congress was Ron Dermer. Dermer’s official title was Israel’s ambassador to Washington, but during his six years in the US capital, Dermer acted and became known as Netanyahu’s emissary in Washington. Dermer, an American by birth, was an active member of the Republican Party, and is identified as one of the activists of the far-right faction of the party. Netanyahu’s favorite person – hostile to the Democrats, staunch supporter of the Republicans.
During his years in Washington, Dermer worked hard to fortify support for Israel among the top brass of the Republican Party. The Democrats didn’t care about him at all. The result was that Drumer sabotaged the bipartisan support of the Republicans and Democrats for Israel, and in fact eliminated it. Support that has been meticulously maintained for many years. A veteran Israeli diplomat known as an expert on US-Israel relations, who visited Washington, told senior Jewish leaders in the local community that “Dermer destroyed Israel-US relations in a Hannibal manner.”
It is no coincidence that Netanyahu recently appointed Dermer to serve in part of the Foreign Ministry at the rank of minister, because Dermer is exactly the man the prime minister needs in his recalcitrant policy towards the White House and Democratic President Biden. Dermer is currently in Washington, and according to reports he is trying to take advantage of his connections in the capital in order to avoid insult and disgrace from Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich during his expected visit to the US. It is interesting that there are no reports according to which Dermer is seeking to obtain from the White House an official invitation to the Prime Minister’s meeting with President Biden, but maybe Dermer does ask for it and doesn’t succeed.
Benjamin Netanyahu is an unwanted personality in the American government. There are no other words to explain the fact that after more than two months in his tenure as Prime Minister, he was not invited to Washington. It is important to understand that the visit of an Israeli prime minister to Washington always has a special meaning. This is a visit that confirms and even strengthens the special relationship that exists between Israel and the USA.
A meeting-conversation with the president also creates discussions and strengthens the coordination between the two countries on security and intelligence issues. So far, it is unknown and there is no sign from the White House about a date for Netanyahu’s official visit to Washington. Senior Jewish officials in the community, known for their good relations with the White House, express concern over the fact that Netanyahu was not invited, and worse than that – that there is no sign that the White House is preparing to officially invite him soon.
An old and respected senior Jewish official assessed in a conversation with him that it is possible that Netanyahu himself is not that interested now, nor in the near future, in visiting the White House, and added: “In my opinion, it cannot be ruled out that Netanyahu is interested in weakening Joe Biden’s chances of being re-elected. It is not As excessive as it sounds”.