Dan Shapiro: "Believes that Biden will call Netanyahu in the coming week" Israel today

Shapiro, the US ambassador to Israel during the Obama era, explained why the US president has not yet spoken to the prime minister.

Dan Shapiro, the former US ambassador to Israel, said tonight (Wednesday) that he believes US President Joe Biden will call Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu "in the coming week."

President Biden's first speech on foreign policy, last week // Photo: Reuters

During an online event of the Friends of the Weizmann Institute of Science Association, Shapiro, who served as ambassador to former President Barack Obama and is considered close to the current US administration, said Biden had not yet spoken to Netanyahu because he preferred to talk to US allied leaders first. Against Russia and China. "Israel does not have such a role in this, but that does not mean that Israel is not important.

The Secretary of State and his Secretary of Defense spoke with their counterparts in Israel, but he first chose to speak to whoever was most urgent to speak to.

There is no reason to worry, "he said.

"Biden is almost entirely focused on the urgent things he faces, such as the corona plague and the vaccine program, and he received a very confused plan from the Trump administration," Shapiro said during the event.

"He wants to help people get out of the corona crisis, the race crisis and the climate change crisis. He wants to fix the alliance with NATO countries and the US allies in Asia first. A lot of damage has been done to this important relationship during the time of former President Donald Trump. "In economics and technology it is in rivalry with China and it has to deal with Russia's aggressiveness. This is a long list of priorities that it will have to deal with."

The former ambassador stressed that relations between Israel and the United States have not changed: "Biden feels deep down that the United States is committed to ensuring Israel's security. He was committed to this even when he was a senator and was there for Israel's strongest supporter in the Senate. "Protects the legitimacy of Israel, whether it is at the UN or in the court in The Hague, for example."

Shapiro further said that the current US administration sees the Abrahamic agreements as an opportunity for Iran to see the new dynamics developing in the region.

“It gives her fewer opportunities and also creates opportunities for the U.S. to support more.

"Biden has already said he will try to extend normalization to Saudi Arabia, Kuwait and more," he added.

"Biden sees Iran as a dangerous regime that is trying to acquire nuclear weapons, supports terrorist organizations and more, but there are also some things it has to deal with - today Iran is closer to a nuclear bomb than when Trump took office," Shapiro said.

"After Trump left the agreement and Iran began to breach its commitment, it is now less than six months away from reaching nuclear weapons. Yes, Trump has managed to impose sanctions on Iran, but without cooperating with Europe or Russia and China, only Israel, the Emirates and Biden will have to deal. "With that, he is not in a hurry, he is putting pressure on the Iranians."

Referring to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, Shapiro said that "Biden sees no opportunity to advance negotiations with those leaders who failed in it the previous time, because there is a lack of trust between them."

He noted that in his opinion the US president would not appoint a special envoy to deal with the issue, but would "try to maintain the possibility of a two-state solution. He will try to mobilize Arab states that are already normalizing with Israel to put positive pressure on the Palestinians." That they need to advance the possibilities. "

In conclusion, when Shapiro was asked if he might take part in the new administration, he said he currently has no news on the subject: "You have always confirmed the relationship between Israel and the United States, in any position, whether as a private citizen or in an official position."