It is difficult to overstate the level of frustration of the Israeli elite. Not from the Palestinians, not even from the Europeans and certainly not from the Arabs. The Israeli disappointment is directed at our best friend, America.
While it is important for the current government to convey a positive outlook on relations with the administration, the happy character on Bennett and Lapid's face does not cover up the despair. The issue that "makes us a big headache," according to a political source, is Iran.
It will be a little over a year since Joe Biden was elected President of the United States. The Iranians, with typical cunning, have managed to drag the president and his people from now until now. The American promises of a renewed, longer-term and stronger nuclear deal ("Longer & Stronger, Longer & Stronger," senior Israeli officials quoted government officials at the outset) now seem far from the agreement itself.
"Iran is advancing to a level of enrichment that will allow it to reach a nuclear threshold," Defense Minister Bnei Gantz warned in the Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee of the Knesset. And America where is she?
The head of the Americans in their war. In China. "For the United States, China is what Iran is for us: an existential threat." September 11 was not an existential event for the United States. It was a terrible tragedy, but as a people we continued on our way. The threat posed by the People's Republic of China is much greater and an existential threat. " Recently a U.S. Air Force general.
China is America's top priority. In this respect, Biden and his people continue Trump's policies. The language may be softer, but the requirements are no less harsh. This was at least the impression of Communications Minister Yoaz Handel in his talks this week with senior members of the National Security Council in the White House, the Senate and other ministries.
Handel is already familiar with the American urgency towards China.
A year and a half ago, when he had just begun his role as communications minister in the Netanyahu-Gantz government, he was summoned to the then US ambassador, David Friedman.
"I was sure he wanted to talk to me about the issue of sovereignty that was burning at the time, but after two minutes we moved on to talk about what really interested them. China and preventing its intrusion into sensitive infrastructure in Israel."
After Prime Minister Bennett and Foreign Minister Lapid, Handel is the third person to be invited to the United States this week, and not by chance. In Israel, the media portfolio is considered junior. In the United States, the media is seen as everything.
In our cyber world, everything goes through cellular networks, internet or cyber, digital or any other name by which we will call the virtual world.
As a result, in the American view, any phone, computer or chip originating in China is suspicious.
They are therefore waging a fierce war against the entry of companies from China into areas that will allow the competing power to gather or control information.
Partly cloudy
To understand the intensity of American pressure, it is worthwhile to migrate to Britain for a moment. The U.S. has forced its historic ally to cancel contracts it has already signed with Chinese company Wavi, probably the best company in the world at deploying 5th-generation cellular networks. The intelligence cooperation between the countries. The wild prime minister has no choice.
What is true of London is also relevant to Jerusalem. The United States expects Israel to completely prevent Chinese invasion of anything that may have an intelligence aspect. Although they woke up late and themselves allowed the Chinese to infiltrate their own systems inconceivably. Huge Chinese cranes, which the United States has demanded Israel not allow into the port of Haifa, have long been overlooking sensitive intelligence bases and navies in Virginia.
But from the moment America woke up - it as mentioned came in demands to its allies, and we are at the forefront. According to many, Israel is the second most important technological center in the world, after Silicon Valley. These days, for example, we are the first country in the world to upload all the information it has about an independent cloud, a huge project known as Nimbus. International giants Amazon and Google have won the government tender, but for the US, Israel needs to make sure the cloud is pure western, meaning that no component in it is Chinese.
"We do not want to get there, but the situation is beginning to remind us of the Cold War days when every country had to take sides - either with the United States or with the USSR," says a senior Israeli official who has previously dealt with the Chinese issue.
"So the struggle was mainly over physical weapons systems. Those who bought American or Western weapons did not buy Russian weapons and vice versa. Today, in our cyber world, civilian infrastructure can also become a threat. Once a certain factor has access to critical infrastructure like water, electricity or the Internet "You're exposed. The Americans understand that and are trying to start arranging the dice accordingly."
Communication is the appearance of everything.
Handel and Senator Tom Cotton,
checks and balances
Unlike in the Cold War, Israel does not want the Chinese to see it as someone who came out against them. Until the Trump era, Netanyahu and his predecessors made efforts to get closer to the Chinese giant. In the face of tensions between the powers, we can no longer warm relations with China, but no one in Jerusalem wants to spoil what has been achieved. "We are careful about the dignity of the Chinese, we know the sensitivities," says the senior Israeli official.
How do you do that?
gently.
For reasons of national security, and through the security agencies, the GSS and other bodies, supervisors, inspectors and, if necessary, inhibitors. , One can be sure that Chinese companies will not deploy the fifth generation networks in the country and will not win IEC tenders - such a glitch has happened too many times. But in public no one will say anything in condemnation of the Chinese, This is America's war, Iran, under these conditions, will remain our war.