President Joe Biden responded spontaneously.
In the half-hour phone call he and Naftali Bennett had on Sunday, the American president responded instead by inviting the prime minister to visit Israel.
Subsequently, the White House bothered to issue an official announcement that the visit would take place during 2022.
The announcement of the trip to Israel was received with surprise by some of the advisers at the White House, and therefore it is estimated that Biden will visit here only in many months.
The willingness and enthusiasm of Biden, who rarely leaves the United States, to come to Israel, says a lot.
First, he does love the Jewish state.
Second, Biden and his government desperately want the continuation of the current government, and very much do not want Netanyahu to return.
Third, the president's condition in the polls is poor.
A visit to Israel, which still enjoys a consensus of sympathy, could give it a few points before the "midterm elections" for Congress, to be held in the fall.
Even among the Jews and the Jewish establishment, who mostly vote for the Democrats, a jump to the Holy Land will not hurt.
But there is another element, very important, that deserves attention.
When Biden comes to us it will be the first time in 25 years that an American president has visited Israel while her prime minister openly declares that he opposes the establishment of a Palestinian state.
Until a few years ago such a scenario seemed imaginary.
The last prime minister to publicly hold this position - contrary to the legacy they are trying to attribute to him - was Yitzhak Rabin.
Even at the height of the Oslo Accords, a few weeks before he was assassinated, Rabin stressed that he agreed to the establishment of an "entity that is less than a state."
King Hussein, Bill Clinton and Yitzhak Rabin // Photo: Moshe Shai // King Hussein, Bill Clinton and Yitzhak Rabin,
Rabin, Clinton and Arafat sign the Oslo Accords, Photo: Reuters
Everyone who came after him - Netanyahu, Barak, Sharon, Olmert and again Netanyahu - used the term "state" in their opinion, the Arabs are entitled to residents of Judea, Samaria and Gaza.
Bennett is the first in a generation to declare inside and outside the chambers that he opposes a Palestinian state.
And he does not fold on this matter, although Biden has made clear things in favor and made it clear that he disagrees with him.
This is an important milestone, indicating that one can say "no" to a Palestinian state and stay alive.
Or to put it another way, when it comes to the existence and security of Israel, one does not have to play pretend games - that was Netanyahu's tactic - but one can tell the simple truth.
The Land of Israel to the people of Israel, and only to him.
The agreement - and the softening
Baiden is expected to have another, very significant reason to visit Israel in a few months - Iran.
Until two or three months ago, the working assumption was that Iran and the United States would not reach a new nuclear agreement. In recent weeks, the renewed agreement has surfaced on the betting exchange.
Various indications lead to this conclusion.
For example, the rather remarkable move of removing US sanctions on components of Iran's civilian nuclear program.
Or the resignation of three members of the U.S. negotiating team for talks, including Richard Nafio, the deputy head of the U.S. delegation and who during the Obama era held the Iranian file on the National Security Council in the White House. Mali, who is known for his very soft-spoken attitude towards Iran, is conducting the talks on behalf of Biden.
Participants in the nuclear talks in Vienna, Photo: Reuters
The resignation is a thunderous move, but Nefi is expected to take on another role in the administration, so he does not say why he left.
It is clear, however, that he would not have abandoned at the height of the campaign, had he thought everything was fine.
Both these signs and Iranian, Russian, European and even American statements, connect to a trend that signals that the chances of an agreement are increasing.
In their background, from an American perspective, is no longer just the Chinese challenge, which was a top priority for the United States and was Biden's excuse to soften against the ayatollahs. Now it is "the biggest invasion since World War II," as Biden described the impending war. Russia, against Ukraine.
Almost all American foreign and security attention is directed to the Russian-Ukrainian border.
Under these conditions, Baiden has another reason for him to close the Iranian case already, one way or another, and move on.
Israel will no doubt oppose the agreement.
It is in fact already flooding the Americans with materials about the wrong elements in the terms of the agreement in question.
Bennett devoted a considerable part of that conversation to Biden and said clear things to the president.
This is also one of the goals of the trip of the head of the National Security Council, Eyal Hulta, this week to Washington.
By the way, both Bennett and Yair Lapid are convinced that Israel is actually influencing the administration's positions in negotiations with Iran - a claim that is not so consistent with the soft line of the Americans in Vienna.
The evidence - Prime Minister Bennett has no doubt that the damage to the agreement, in all the formats on the table, will outweigh its benefits. Therefore, he is trying to influence the American line but in the same breath completely denies it.
But back to the possible visit.
Assuming there is an agreement - Biden will want to show both Israelis and other US allies in the region that he is still committed to their security. This is likely to be another significant reason for the future visit.
Biden finds himself on the defensive against both the Chinese and the Russians, precisely because he initially showed weakness against Iran and then fled Afghanistan.
Had he adopted a "landlord went crazy" policy like Trump, all of these dictatorships would have been careful in his honor.
But Biden is not Trump, and many Americans are certainly embracing the policies of the previous president.
A lot, but not enough.
According to the polls, Trump is consistently lagging behind the current president and is provoking antagonism at such a high level that he seems to have no chance of returning to the White House.
Israel's next friend?
On the other hand, in the skies of the Republican Party, the star of former Congressman Ron de Santis, now the governor of Florida, is beginning to shine.
De Santis is not yet a national figure in the U.S. and national polls still lag far behind Biden. That's, that is, the qualities and conduct appropriate to a potential president.
Former President Trump, who from all over the United States has decided to move from New York to Florida, has already begun beating whoever could be his home rival. Trump fears De Santis will win the Republican nomination in the 2024 election.
The concern is justified.
De Santis is a very smart and very right-wing politician.
Like Trump he dares to go against the flow but does so culturally.
He also loves Israel like no other.
The Democrats have marked him and for years have been trying to overthrow him in various traps, without success.
De Santis has not yet announced that he will run for president, but is careful not to rule it out.
He is currently preparing to run for a second term as governor of Florida, in the November 2022 election. Palestinian state.
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