Netanyahu defeat brings relief, if no policy shift, for Biden

June 15 ------ When Joe Biden entered the White House, he waited nearly a month to speak to Benjamin Netanyahu, fueling perceptions he was in no hurry to please the divisive Israeli leader. After Netanyahu was unseated Sunday, the White House fired off a statement in minutes congratulating the new prime minister, Naftali Bennett, with Biden quickly calling and telling him that “Israel has no better friend than the United States.”

The fall of Netanyahu, the longest-serving prime minister in Israeli history, is bringing a sigh of relief to many in the Biden administration, who will no longer have to deal with the pugnacious right-winger who had closely allied himself in US politics with the rival Republican Party. But the shift could be more about tone than substance. The new Israeli government is unlikely to take a different view on Iran, a major source of disagreement between Biden’s Democratic Party and Netanyahu, and the unwieldiness of the coalition — which unites Bennett, a staunch supporter of Jewish settlement of the West Bank, with centrists and leftists — makes prospects slim for any dramatic moves on the Palestinian issue.

“Netanyahu played a brazen game of partisan politics in the US, and I’m sure it is a relief for the Biden administration to be dealing with a different prime minister — even if they don’t really know what to expect from him yet,” said Michele Dunne, director of the Middle East program at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace. “What the Biden administration will hope for is that the government headed by Bennett will manage the US-Israel relationship more quietly and amicably than Netanyahu did, and will also be more careful about avoiding actions in Jerusalem and elsewhere that can inflame relations with Palestinians,” she said.

Brian Katulis, a senior fellow at the left-leaning Center for American Progress, said Netanyahu’s downfall could “stabilize the bilateral relationship in important ways in part because of the lack of trust and confidence that existed at a very personal level with Netanyahu.” “All of the breathless anxiety about Netanyahu and what he may or may not do looks like it’s in the rearview mirror,” Katulis said, while noting that Netanyahu — and those who share his brand of politics — are sure to remain on the Israeli political scene.

Source: mb.com.ph