In the eyes of Biden’s more radical supporters, if you were an ally of “he who shall remain nameless,” you would be wise to hide and brace yourself because the bell tolls for thee.
By Damian Pachter, ISRAEL HAYOM
US President Joe Biden isn’t calling, Secretary of State Antony Blinken is waffling: It appears the new administration in Washington trying to give the Israeli government the cold shoulder.
In Jerusalem, although officials don’t necessarily view the US secretary of state’s remarks on the Golan Heights as negative, and stressed that Washington has no intention of reversing the previous administration’s recognition of Israeli sovereignty on the Golan, the new administration’s behavior toward Israel does seem rather childish. This, despite the fact that the new president is 78 years old and his main selling point was his extensive experience.
Blinken’s comments mostly reflect the current administration’s reservations over the previous administration’s decisions, even if they don’t plan on reversing them. This applies to the Golan Heights, and to the decision to keep the US embassy in Jerusalem.
The chilly winds blowing our way from Biden and his team are also connected to their past experience, which saw diplomatic relations between the countries suffer considerably as Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu clashed with former President Barack Obama over the signing of the nuclear deal with Iran in 2015. Netanyahu at the time refused to fall in line with the rest of the “enlightened” world and Biden, as Obama’s number two, saw it all up close and learned.
Since Biden’s inauguration, there have been no extraordinary crises in US-Israeli relations, no unusual third-party interventions, no diplomatic problems, or inappropriate public statements. Ever since the 20th of January, Israel has maintained a stately approach to its most important ally, despite the sense among many officials in Jerusalem that the golden age of the Trump era has passed likely never to return.
It appears the current problem is a different one and doesn’t necessarily have anything to do with us. Now it’s just Israel’s turn to pay the price for the internal polarization in the US. In the eyes of Biden’s more radical supporters, if you were an ally of “he who shall remain nameless,” you would be wise to hide and brace yourself because the bell tolls for thee. During Biden’s election campaign, he was under immense pressure from his advisers to constantly present himself as diametrically opposed to Trump.
Now, after the election was won, all policy is being reexamined. Trump enthusiastically recognized Israel’s sovereignty on the Golan Heights, Biden will be dispassionate; Trump withdrew from the nuclear deal, Biden will engage; Trump severed ties with the Palestinian Authority, Biden will reconnect; Trump was Netanyahu’s main ally, Biden will distance and freeze him out.
With that, it’s important to bear in mind that the Biden administration’s center of gravity is very far from the Middle East. In the foreseeable future, the Biden administration will be mostly preoccupied with the coronavirus – which has claimed half a million lives in the US with nearly 100,000 new daily cases – and the floundering race to inoculate the population.
T was anti-corruptocrats.
B is pro-corruptocrats.