eleven weeks into his third term as Prime Minister of Israel, Benjamin Netanyahu It has yet to be received at the White House, indicating clear American unhappiness over the policies of his right-wing government.
Most of the new Israeli leaders visited the United States or met with the President during his premiership, According to a Reuters review of official visits in the late 1970s. Of the 13 former prime ministers who headed the new government, only two waited longer.
The White House declined to confirm that Netanyahu had not yet been invited. A State Department spokeswoman referred Reuters to the Israeli government for information on the prime minister’s travel plans.
Israel’s embassy in Washington declined to comment.
“The message they clearly want to send is: If you follow offensive policies, you have no right to sit in the Oval Office,” said David Makowski, a former senior adviser to the special envoy for Israeli-Palestinian negotiations. , who is now in Washington. Institute for Near East Policy.
Since the beginning of the year, Protesters have filled the streets of Israel To Opposition to government’s plan To curb the power of the Supreme Court, which critics say removes the curbs on the governing coalition.
Amid rising West Bank violence, inflammatory comments from a member of Netanyahu’s cabinet with responsibilities over Jewish settlements and the right-wing government’s actions have drawn criticism from US officials, including from Israel. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin during a visit to Israel last week.
US-Israel relations remain close. The United States has long been Israel’s main benefactor, sending more than $3 billion in military aid each year.
President Joe Biden has known Netanyahu for decades, the two have spoken on the phone, and senior officials from both countries have visited since Netanyahu’s government was formed in December, despite Israel’s growing political crisis.
But the lack of a White House visit underscores both the Biden administration’s willingness to look at different policies in Israel and what critics say is a reluctance to take more forceful steps.
‘disappointing’ language
American statements on events in Israel often include “disappointing boiler-plate language,” said Sarah Yerkes, a senior fellow at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace who formerly worked at the State Department on policy toward Israel and the Palestinians.
“It’s frustrating to see this lack of teeth for any response from the US,” Yerkes said.
“They are not treated with the same kid gloves with which they have always been treated because … they are on their way to not being a democracy anymore.”
A senior State Department official said the Biden administration prioritizes quiet dialogue over public criticism, especially when it comes to the crisis over a proposed Israeli judicial overhaul.
“Whatever we say on the specific proposals is likely to be deeply adversarial,” the official said, adding the goal was to encourage Israeli leaders to build a consensus on reforms, not what the outcome should be.
Chris Murphy, a Democratic member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, said he hoped the administration would continue to send a clear message to Israel.
Murphy said, “I would certainly like to see the administration send a strong signal that we have to maintain our support for a future Palestinian state and that the decisions the Netanyahu government is making now greatly compromise that future.” Is.”
A separate group of 92 progressive lawmakers warned in a letter to Biden that the judicial overhaul could empower those in Israel who favor annexation of the West Bank, “undermining the prospects of a two-state solution.” and endanger the existence of Israel as a Jewish and democratic state.”
American leaders have rarely criticized Israel’s policies since Secretary of State James Baker in 1989 advised the country to take steps toward annexing Palestinian territory and expanding settlements. Baker subsequently banned Netanyahu, at the time a deputy foreign affairs minister, from the State Department after he criticized US policy towards Israel.
Biden, a Democrat who describes himself as a Zionist, says US support for Israel is “ironclad”.
Dennis Ross, a veteran US Middle East peace negotiator with the Washington Institute for Near East Policy, said, “Biden’s own personal instincts are such that it is very difficult for him to take an extremely hard stance toward Israel.”
“He would love to put the Middle East in a box so he can focus only on Russia, Ukraine and China. Unfortunately, the Middle East has a way of imposing itself, unless we try to manage the environment. Don’t take the initiative enough to do it.