When Rep. Pramila Jayapal, D-Washington, called Israel a “racist state” on Saturday, White House officials were quick to proclaim America’s “strained” relationship with its Middle Eastern ally and left of course President Biden took issue with his comments.
But when Mr. Biden appeared on CNN for an interview several days earlier, he declared that some members of the current Israeli government were “the most extremist” he has seen in nearly four decades, a startling assessment of himself. ally
Since taking office, Mr. Biden has struggled to navigate one of the most complicated periods of diplomatic tension between the United States and Israel, often explicitly distancing himself from extreme voices. His effort has become even more difficult in recent days as he finds himself at cross-currents from Republicans, members of his own party and growing unease with Israel.
On Tuesday, Biden sought to show the ties that still bind the two governments by hosting Isaac Herzog, who serves as Israel’s largely ceremonial president, for a meeting in the Oval Office.
“Welcome back, nice to have you here,” Biden told Mr. Herzog, noting that Israel was celebrating 75 years of existence. He took a jab at Mr. Herzog and called the relationship between the United States and Israel “simply unbreakable.”
It was not lost on anyone that Mr. Biden did not offer the same embrace to Benjamin Netanyahu, Israel’s hardline prime minister, who returned to power in December. In a stunning example of the president’s diplomatic balancing act, Mr. Biden on Monday ended months of tough-talking Mr. Netanyahu and invited him to a face-to-face meeting in the United States before the end of the year.
But even that gesture was designed to forge a kind of middle ground for Mr. Biden to occupy: His aides declined to say whether the prime minister would be housed in the White House or somewhere less politically desirable for Mr. Netanyahu.
Alon Pinkas, a former Israeli consul general in New York, said Mr. Biden had found an effective way to silence criticism from Republicans who had not yet invited Mr. Netanyahu while still taking it off.
“You can stifle him by simply making a call, giving him a piece of your mind about the constitutional question and the Palestinian question, listening to his complaints about Iran policy, and then not even committing to a visit,” Pinkas said. . “You know, if he brings up the topic of the visit, you’ll say: ‘Yes, we’ll meet in the future.’ It could be at the New York General Assembly in September, it could be who knows when and where’”.
At the same time, the US president is wary of deep animosity towards Israel’s government by some in his own party, which threatens to undermine the decades-old military and strategic alliance in a vital and increasingly most unstable in the world.
“Biden simply cannot afford to paint the entire Democratic Party with brazenness, open hostility and be perceived as a fundamental adversary of Israel,” said Aaron David Miller, senior fellow at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace.
He added that Mr. Biden is unwilling to follow the example of former President Donald J. Trump, who supported Mr. Netanyahu without reservations until a fight between the two leaders at the end of his presidency.
“He knows it’s bad for America’s interests,” Miller said of Biden bringing his administration too close to the prime minister. “He also knows it’s bad for his credibility.”
Mr. Biden is not the first president to struggle to manage the relationship with Israel. Former Presidents George W. Bush and Bill Clinton clashed with Israeli leaders, and former President Barack Obama engaged in years of frosty meetings with Mr. Netanyahu as the two men clashed over the settlements and Iran policy.
But few presidents have had to deal with so many entrants at once.
The comments of Ms. Jayapal, for which he later apologized and which led to a House resolution in support of Israel, underscored the political pressure on Biden from a small contingent in his party to hold Israel accountable for what they say are crimes against Palestinians. .
However, Republicans, including Mr Trump, the favorite to be his party’s presidential nominee in 2024, have increased their criticism of Mr Biden and the administration for failing to support Israel and Netanyahu. The refusal of Mr. Biden to invite Mr. Netanyahu in the United States was a key talking point for Mr. Biden.
In Israel, traditional disagreements over settlements and Iran have been joined by protests over Mr. Netanyahu to review the judicial system. The heated debate has drawn Mr. Biden into an internal dispute over the fundamental questions of democratic values and ideals that have been at the heart of the alliance between the two countries for decades.
The delicate maneuvers have unfolded against the backdrop of a shifting focus for Mr. Biden’s foreign policy team.
The war in Ukraine has become Mr. Biden in the past 18 months, as he seeks to rally Europe and other countries to oppose Russia’s brutal invasion of its neighbor. His administration has also refocused attention on the military and economic threat to the United States and its allies from China.
“The focal point of American diplomacy has really changed with the war in Ukraine,” said Dore Gold, Israel’s former permanent representative to the United Nations and a former adviser to Mr. Netanyahu.
“I think that’s where the president is focused: on building a coalition” to support Ukraine and Eastern Europe “and reforming NATO for the challenges that the United States is facing now,” he said. said Gold.
Israel remains a core U.S. ally in the Middle East and the recipient of billions of dollars in aid each year. In Tuesday’s visit of Mr. Herzog, White House officials said Mr. Biden emphasized areas of cooperation, including progress toward normalizing relations with other Middle Eastern countries and diplomatic efforts with the Palestinians.
Some supporters of the United States believe that Mr. Herzog, who appeared against Mr. For nearly a decade, Netanyahu has been a bridge-builder whose efforts to find middle ground in Israel’s fraught political climate are a welcome change from some of the more extremist elements. of the country’s government.
But even before Tuesday, his visit was generating controversy. Several liberal lawmakers said they would boycott Mr. Herzog to Congress on Wednesday to protest Mr. Govt. Netanyahu. Nine Democrats on Tuesday voted against a House resolution declaring that Israel is not an apartheid state.
White House officials had previously said Mr. Biden planned to raise his concerns about the Israeli government’s settlement expansion, which the administration sees as an impediment to an eventual two-state solution, with a Palestinian state in the side of Israel
Officials had said Biden would also express to Mr. Herzog his discomfort with the efforts of Mr. Netanyahu to make changes to the judicial system that critics say will undermine the power of Israel’s Supreme Court.
In brief comments to reporters after the meeting, Mr. Herzog confirmed that the two leaders discussed a wide range of issues. Mr. Herzog acknowledged what he called “internal issues in Israel,” referring to the judicial changes proposed by Mr. Netanyahu.
“I reiterated my commitment, as I have said before: Israeli democracy is strong and resilient,” Herzog said. “And we should definitely see the current debate in Israel, in all its facets, as a tribute to the strengths of Israeli democracy.”
Michael D. Shear reported from Washington, and Patrick Kingsley from Jerusalem.
