In June 1964, Prime Minister Levy Eshkol paid his first state visit to the American capital, and received a particularly embracing and cordial welcome from President Lyndon Johnson. His great-predecessor, David Ben-Gurion. This, while Johnson showed a willingness to blur the roots of the dispute between Washington and Jerusalem over the Dimona reactor, which became a hotbed of friction in Ben-Gurion's relationship with President John F. Kennedy in the twilight of his days at the White House. This time, too, 57 years later, an Israeli PM arrives for an official premiere visit to the United States - when, paradoxically, as in the case of Eshkol, the source of his power lies precisely in his weakness at home.
President Biden's ambition to prevent former Prime Minister Netanyahu from returning to his office - defined in advance the nature of the visit and ensured its political and media success in the first place. In other words, the new Prime Minister's invitation to Washington To the governmental revolution that took place in Israel.
This, during an extraordinary demonstration of "conditions of affection" towards Bennett, and while a willingness on the part of "all members of the president" to obscure factors of friction in the relationship - while offering, or considering, granting a special gift package to Israel in complexes such as granting an entry permit.
Indeed, while Netanyahu's visits to the American capital have often become the scene of an open debate between him and Obama and Biden over core issues - the current honeymoon in which Bennett's visit is shrouded in outright ruled out the possibility that the visit would become the opposite of mine.
Moreover, since in the Iranian context Israel presented seemingly less belligerent positions than those to which Netanyahu adhered, the summit became an open and friendly strategic dialogue between partners, in which the Palestinian sector was assimilated, with all its disagreements, within a broad and consensual regional context. Common of the two allies.
Israel thus positioned itself as an axis player, ready to assist and contribute to the formation of a broad Middle East alliance (with the participation of Jordan, Egypt and later also the partnership to the Abrahamic Agreements) as a counterweight to Iranian radicalism and its satellites.
This, regardless of the direct question of whether a complementary agreement will be reached with Tehran in Vienna.
However, within this outline for the formation of a regional containment front, one key issue remains, and that is the degree of readiness and determination of the administration to provide, in practice, a credible strategic safety net;
The bloodbath that took place yesterday in Kabul could change the picture, and further intensify the trend of separatism and seclusion in the conduct of the American patron - thus thwarting the possibility of the realization of the entire outline.
After all, the United States was supposed to be a major axis of support and assistance in its establishment.
I mean, if the chaotic withdrawal from Afghanistan also leads to an accelerated completion of American evacuation from Iraq and Syria, then the White House's declared willingness to increase security cooperation with Israel - will not be able to stop the progress of radical Islam from Afghanistan and Iran to its coveted goal. Of the Middle East.
If that were to be the case, Afghanistan's violent shadow could make the Biden-Bennett summit less relevant, especially in its broad-based aspects.
Smiles, sympathy and even promises of generous assistance - they are no substitute for American leadership and presence, which is in no hurry to disengage from the space despite the price tag required by its continued presence at the front.
In practice, with all the good will and willingness of Washington to put Israel at the center of the stage in recent days, the American order of priorities is shaped not by the mask of its relations with Jerusalem but against the background of other constraints, international and internal.
Yesterday, this agenda not only led to the postponement of the summit meeting between the two vertices, but also emphasized the secondary, if not marginal, place of the Israeli partner in the American vital hierarchy and vital goals.