The web is full of ridiculous videos of him. His opponents mock his old age and claim that he has become senile. His fans are anxiously watching his situation, wondering if he will hold out to lead them to victory in elections a year from now. In Israel, too, there were rumors that he wasn't really with us.
What is true and what is false in all of this - we will know only after Joe Biden's term ends. The way of the world is that the secrets of the Oval Office roll out only after you leave it. But what can be said now, and with certainty, is that the incumbent American president has a special attitude toward the Jewish people and Israel as it has not been for many decades.
These are not only the sympathies and admiration, as many American citizens and leaders have, but a deep personal commitment that he derived from his father's home. One sentence he said to Prime Minister Netanyahu last week betrayed the uniqueness of his outlook: "Without Israel, no Jew in the world is safe," Biden said, in a timeless and meaningful statement the likes of which are no longer heard these days, even from Jews. The American president, the leader of the Democratic Party, is not only a friend of Israel, but understands, justifies and backs its raison d'être. In this spirit, he repeated an old saying that "if there were no Israel, it would have to be invented."
In other words, in contrast to the attitudes prevalent even in the American Jewish community, as if there are two equal concentrations of Jews, Biden understands and emphasizes the importance of Israel both for the survival of the Jewish people in general and for the prosperity of American Jewry. He is certainly old enough to remember the days when Jews were discriminated against in the United States, before the establishment of the state and in its first decades.
What is no less important – and this too Biden said in his voice – is that this principled position on Israel trumps specific differences. "Even when there are gaps between us, my commitment to Israel is armored, and you know that," he added.
Biden's opponents will argue that his remarks are the inconsequential words of an end-of-the-day politician. Mistake. Whatever his situation, he is still the president of the United States, whose statements and actions are binding and whose legacy is doubly important, precisely because he is a president from the Democratic Party. As you know, the trends
Anti-Israelism in the Blue Party has intensified in recent years, and criticism focuses on moral arguments. Opposite them is the position of the party leader, who emphasizes the moral justification for Israel's existence and his support for it. In American politics, perceived moral considerations play a significant role in shaping policy, at least on the Democratic side.
There is someone to talk to
Biden's attitude contrasts with that of former Democratic President Barack Obama. Unlike Obama, who saw Israel as an entity whose very existence was wronged by supposedly stealing the land of another people, Biden "thinks Israel's existence is essential," as he repeatedly told Netanyahu last week. Simply put, Obama's heart was on the Arab-Palestinian side, and Biden's was beating on the Jewish-Israeli side. He is excited during his visits to Israel, filled with joy and vitality when meeting delegations of Israelis, and is also angry at us like they are angry in a "family," as he once said. Like Trump, his children married Jews.
Biden-Netanyahu Meeting in New York | Ariel Kahane
And now to the bottom line. Biden continued Trump when he came to Israel during his first year in office, creating a binding precedent of sorts for future presidents. Biden authorized Israel, at the request of President Herzog, to sell Germany the Arrow missiles – a deal that upgrades Israel's status politically, militarily, economically and even historically. The close security cooperation continues. It was Biden who ordered Israel into the U.S. visa waiver program. He renounced his campaign promise to reopen the U.S. consulate to Palestinians in Jerusalem. Despite the severe differences of opinion with Israel, the tone of his administration is much lower than it was during the Obama era. Although he strongly disagrees with "the most extreme government that Israel has ever had," as he also put it, his spokesmen do not condemn us every Monday and Thursday as he did in 2016-2008.
The most important thing is his willingness to hear Israel. There is no doubt that Biden preferred the Bennett-Lapid government, and found it very difficult to digest the current one. But in the end, he or his people on his behalf listened, so they are seriously trying to bring Israel and Saudi Arabia closer. As far as they are concerned, this is not an easy conceptual shift to digest – a change that Obama refused to make, and therefore missed the opportunity to establish peace in the Middle East.
Back in 2015, Minister Ron Dermer, who can be described as the number 2 in the government, laid as ambassador to Washington the vision of rapprochement between Israel and the Gulf states. He then tried to convince the Obama people that there were identical Middle Eastern interests to rally under American wings against Iran and in favor of Israeli progress, thereby establishing what would later become the Abraham Accords. The administration at the time did not want to hear. Obama was sure that Dermer and Netanyahu were trying to evade the apple of his eye, the Palestinian issue, and stuck Resolution 2334 on Israel.
Biden's opponents will argue that his remarks are the inconsequential words of an end-of-the-day politician. Mistake. Whatever his situation, he is still the president of the United States, and the legacy he leaves is doubly important precisely because he is a Democratic president
It also took quite a while for Trump's people to convince, until peace breaks out with Bahrain, the UAE, Sudan and Morocco in the summer of 2020. In 2021, Biden entered the White House. In his administration, it was initially forbidden to even say the words "Abraham Accords," since everything identified with Donald Trump was pre-empted. Bennett and Lapid succeeded in softening this resistance and established the Negev Forum, designed to strengthen the trend of regional rapprochement.
But the highlight was and remains Saudi Arabia. Biden made an unsuccessful visit there in the summer of 2021. Despite the slap in the face from bin Salman, anger at Netanyahu and his "extremist government," and disagreements with Israel over Iran, Judea and Samaria and legal reform, he is now fully invested in the effort to bring Saudi Arabia to the table. His administration is still troublesome with Palestinian affairs and does not stand strong enough against Iran, which raises the price demanded by the Saudis, but he has reversed the policy, and he deserves admiration for that.
50 years of membership
Clearly, interests play a major role. Still, we should know that for Biden, this is not a particularly big political gain. The agreement will be good for U.S. national security, mainly because it will block China. But American voters choose a president based on the economy, not foreign policy. To be clear, this does not mean that everything is honey. Biden is not a right-winger. As vice president, he triggered a crisis in 2011 when Israel promoted a bureaucratic process for construction in Ramat Shlomo in Jerusalem. Of course, he boycotted Netanyahu for months, was publicly angry with him in a rather humiliating manner, and intervened in the legal reform, which projected a message of distancing himself from Israel and therefore delaying the outbreak of peace. Of course, his policy of appeasing and appeasing Iran is disappointing and disastrous.
Still, Biden's legacy regarding Israel should be seen from the height of the age of a leader who has accompanied Israel for 50 years. He, who as a young senator met Golda Meir three weeks before the Yom Kippur War, leaves the message to his successors: "Without Israel, no Jew in the world is safe."
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