Hope in Jerusalem: Biden will appoint moderates like him • Fear: Democratic Party extremists will influence policy • Obama administration exit: "Israel's shock is understandable"
Netanyahu and Biden in 2010
Photography:
Reuters
Under the clouds of diplomatic greetings sent from Israel to Joe Biden and Kamela Harris, as the next US president and vice president, fears and expectations are bubbling among leaders and senior foreign policy leaders.
Israel is waiting to see how Biden will fill the senior positions, especially those related to the Middle East, the Iranian issue and the Palestinian one.
Photo: Reuters
The four main positions are the National Security Adviser, the Secretary of State, the US Ambassador to the United Nations and the future Ambassador to Israel. One is more moderate and closer in position to that of Biden, the other group is made up of the more radical wing of the Democratic Party, some of which also held key key positions in Barack Obama's administration.
With regard to the second group, Israel expresses concern about reports of the possible appointment of the National Security Adviser in the Obama administration, Susan Rice, to the post of Secretary of State.
Rice had very rigid attitudes toward Israel on both the Palestinian and Iranian issues.
Her relations with the senior Israeli officials she worked with, including the current head of the Mossad, Yossi Cohen, were very bad.
"Everything about her was always irritating and angry. It was not pleasant to work with her," said an Israeli source who worked directly with Rice in the previous decade.
Rice's attitude was so rigid that on one occasion she said that "even if Israel and the Palestinians reach an agreement, but its parameters are unfair to the Palestinians, the United States will torpedo it."
"You got used to something else"
In Israel, on the other hand, other senior officials in the Obama administration have been much more comfortable with Israel, including former ambassador Dan Shapiro, who has lived in the country since resigning in 2017.
It is also believed in Israel that Anthony Blinken, who served as Biden's adviser to the Middle East during the campaign, could play a positive role in the two countries' relations.
"Biden as president will maintain the special relationship that exists between Israel and the United States.
He will not act like Obama, nor will he try to turn them into normal relations, "said Dr. Michael Oren, Israel's former ambassador to Washington.
"However, the indulgence we had during the Trump era is over. Trump has set a unique standard that included only love without any criticism of Israel. It will not continue like this, but it will also not be like in the Obama era."
A spokesman for the Obama administration, which currently operates in Washington, told Israel Today in this context that those around the president-elect are aware of what is happening in Israel.
"The shock is understandable. There is an awareness that in some places, and Israel in them, have become accustomed to something else, no one here is blind," he said.
However, he added that the history of Biden and his activities over the years towards Israel should be examined.
"Unprecedented peaks"
Hours later, Prime Minister Netanyahu congratulated Biden and noted that he has "a long and warm personal relationship, close to 40 years, and I know him as a great friend of Israel.
I am sure we will continue to work with both of them. "President Rivlin and Defense Minister Ganz also made similar statements.
Photo: GPO
Netanyahu did not forget, as expected, to thank outgoing President Donald Trump, "for his recognition of Jerusalem and the Golan Heights, his stance with Iran, his historic peace agreements and the fact that he brought the alliance between us to unprecedented peaks."