President's visit: The fall of the government will force Biden to navigate Jerusalem with great political sensitivity - Walla! news

2022-06-25T11:37:08.792Z

The survival of the Bennett government has been a major target of the Biden government for the past year, but whoever will welcome it on July 13 will be the caretaker Prime Minister of Lapid. US officials have said that Biden is also expected to meet with Netanyahu during his visit and will make an effort to avoid the appearance of interfering in the elections that will take place in four months.

President's visit: The fall of the government will force Biden to navigate Jerusalem with great political sensitivity

The survival of the Bennett government has been a major target of the Biden government for the past year, but whoever will welcome it on July 13 will be the caretaker Prime Minister of Lapid.

US officials have said that Biden is also expected to meet with Netanyahu during his visit and will make an effort to avoid the appearance of interfering in the elections that will take place in four months.

Lightning Ravid

24/06/2022

Friday, 24 June 2022, 14:00 Updated: Saturday, 25 June 2022, 14:18

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In the video: A senior official in the Biden administration hints that the president's visit may lead to normalization with other Arab countries (Photo: US House Foreign Affairs Committee)

The fall of the government in Jerusalem will force US President Joe Biden to navigate his path with great political sensitivity during his visit to Israel, which will take place less than four months before the Knesset elections.

"Will have to navigate with political sensitivity", Biden (Photo: Reuters)

The big picture:

The survival of the Bennett government has been a top priority for the Biden government in recent years when it comes to policy toward Israel.
The president and his people have not said this in public, but in closed talks in recent months have made it clear that they do not want Netanyahu to return to power.

A senior U.S. official has hinted that a visit to Biden could lead to normalization measures between Israel and Arab countries

To the full article

In the news center:

For the past year Biden has worked closely and well with Bennett including a meeting at the White House and several phone calls.
Senior American and Israeli officials testify that the personal relationship between the two was very good.
But when Biden arrives in Israel on July 13, the person who will be greeted at the airport will be the Prime Minister of the transition, Yair Lapid, with whom he has not been in contact at all since entering the White House in January 2021.
Lapid will most likely want to use the US president's visit as a key element in his election campaign.
Lapid will also want to use the long hours of live broadcasts on TV channels during the visit to position his image in public as prime minister.

What's new:

Senior U.S. administration officials said President Biden was expected to meet with Lapid's main political rival, opposition leader and Likud chairman Benjamin Netanyahu, during the visit.
Biden and Netanyahu have known each other for forty years and their relationship has known ups and downs.
An announcement about construction in the Ramat Shlomo neighborhood beyond the Green Line in Jerusalem during Biden's visit to Israel in March 2010 when he served as President Obama's deputy created a serious crisis in relations.
When Biden took office in January 2021, he was in no hurry to call Netanyahu.
It was only a month later that Biden picked up the phone and called whoever was serving as Israeli prime minister at the time.

What they say:

On Tuesday, Biden was asked by White House reporters whether political developments in Israel would cause him to change the plan of his visit to Israel.
His answer was short.
"No," he replied.

Behind the Scenes:

Shortly before, US Secretary of State Tony Blinken made two phone calls - the first to incoming Prime Minister Yair Lapid with whom he has worked closely and closely over the past year.
The second call was to outgoing Prime Minister Naftali Bennett.
U.S. and Israeli officials said Blinkan made it clear to Bennett and Lapid that President Biden's visit would take place as planned despite the political situation.
Blinken was also interested in the political developments, the process of dissolving the Knesset and the mechanism for transferring power between the two.
The conversation with Bennett was also very personal.
"We very much appreciate what you have done in the last year," Blinken told the outgoing prime minister.
Bennett, for his part, stressed that despite the disputes over the Iranian issue, relations between the countries have improved and the politicization in which they have been affected in recent years has diminished.

between the lines:

Many American presidents have intervened in Israeli elections in one way or another.
President Clinton arrived in Israel shortly before the 1996 election in an attempt to help Shimon Peres defeat Netanyahu and failed.
President Trump tried to help Netanyahu in the 2019 elections when he hosted him in the White House just before the election and announced recognition of Israel's sovereignty over the Golan Heights.
The move helped Netanyahu, but not enough to form a government.
U.S. officials say Biden wants to try and avoid even the appearance of interfering in the Israeli election campaign.
They note that the visit will take place many months before the election and that the focus will be on highlighting the relations between Israel and the United States and between the American people and the people of Israel, regardless of the identity of the government.

Interesting point:

Although Bennett will not serve as government when Biden arrives in Israel, senior Israeli officials point out that he is expected to meet with the US president and may join some of Lapid's meetings and events with Biden.

What next:

Another major political event that Torch will try to harness in favor of the election campaign will be the UN General Assembly in New York in September - a month and a half before the election.
This will be an opportunity for Lapid to appear on the most important global stage and deliver a speech that will be broadcast on all channels in Israel.
For more than a decade, Israelis have been accustomed to seeing Netanyahu there, but last year it was Bennett who spoke.
At the same time, Lapid will surely want to meet with President Biden once more - either on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly in New York or even in the White House. Then Biden's dilemma will be much more acute.

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