President Isaac Herzog’s invitation to visit Washington this week came at a very different political time. Back in October, Yair Lapid was still the prime minister of Israel, and the Democrats had control of the US House of Representatives.
Benjamin Netanyahu becoming prime minister and having a right-wing coalition was the most likely outcome of the election set to take place days later, but there were plenty of other possibilities, especially in light of the political instability of the preceding four years.
Herzog’s invitation to Washington was clearly not intended to be a poke in Netanyahu’s eye when it was made last year. The Democratic leadership in both houses of Congress sought a way to celebrate 75 years of Israeli independence in 2023 with someone like Herzog, who was a sure thing, while it was unclear who the prime minister would be. Plus, then-speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi had a close relationship with Herzog; he sent her the lyrics to “I Have No Other Country” by Ehud Manor, which she quoted after the January 6, 2021, riots.
The current speaker of the House, Kevin McCarthy, who renewed the invitation, also has no reason to want to snub Netanyahu, who remains a popular figure among Republicans.
Yet, the Israeli president’s visit to Washington comes at a convenient time for US President Joe Biden to use it to send a message about and to Netanyahu. That message is: “I disapprove of what you and your government are doing, but I am still a friend of Israel.”
Not only had Biden not invited Netanyahu to the White House since his return to the premiership, he has openly said at least twice that he does not have plans to do so. Biden did invite Netanyahu to meet with him "in the US," according to a Prime Minister's Office statement from Monday night, which likely means on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly in September, falling short of an actual White House invitation with accommodations at the Blair House as Netanyahu would prefer.
With Herzog in town, Biden can host an Israeli leader in the White House and talk about his own pro-Israel bona fides, while avoiding playing nice with the man at the head of a government that he described as the “most extreme” in 50 years.
Netanyahu is not happy about his lack of invitation
So far, Netanyahu seems to have gotten the message – or at least part of it – loud and clear, and he is not happy about it. The prime minister did not mention Herzog’s planned visit to Washington or wish him good luck in his remarks at Monday’s cabinet meeting. He lashed out at Ambassador to the US Mike Herzog – the president’s brother – and accused him of not working hard enough to get him a White House invitation, Channel 13 reported.
That Biden does not want to meet with Netanyahu or members of his cabinet is amply clear. The question is why, and there are many explanations in the ether.
Netanyahu’s opponents mostly say the reason is the government’s judicial reform plan, which they describe as antidemocratic and, therefore, threatening the shared values of the US and Israel. They cite the US National Security Council’s statement that they “urge authorities to protect and respect the right of peaceful assembly” as a sign that Israel is being treated like a democracy in decline.
The prime minister’s side has explanations of its own.
“Judicial reform is just a smokescreen,” a source close to Netanyahu told The Jerusalem Post last week.
“Iran is what bothers them,” the source said. “They would like us to have a ‘no surprises’ policy” – meaning that Israel would tell the US before taking any actions against the Islamic Republic – “and leave our disagreements behind closed doors.”
That is not possible because Iran “is an existential issue,” the source said.
In an article for Ynet last week, Efrat Mayor Oded Revivi, a former chief foreign envoy for the Yesha Council from Netanyahu’s Likud Party, said recent incidents of violence by extremists against Palestinians are what “shattered American neutrality” over judicial reform.
In other words, what Biden is really upset about is Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich's call to "delete Huwara" and the Jews who set houses and cars in the village on fire.
The various Biden interpreters in Israel could listen to what the president himself says to understand his problem with Netanyahu.
Asked on CNN last week why he hadn’t invited Netanyahu to the White House yet, Biden did not mention judicial reform or Iran, though he certainly has differences with the current Israeli government on those fronts. He did, however, talk about settlements and relations with the Palestinians.
“This is one of the most extreme cabinets I’ve seen, and I go back to Golda Meir,” he said.
Calling himself “one of those who believe Israel’s ultimate security rests in a two-state solution,” and that “the Palestinian Authority has lost its credibility [and] created a vacuum for extremism,” Biden spoke out against “those individuals in the cabinet who say, ‘We can settle anywhere we want. [Palestinians] have no right to be here, etc.’”
Revivi was partly right – Biden is upset about extremism and its supporters in the current cabinet. But perhaps inconveniently for Revivi, Biden made it clear that he is upset about settlement activity more broadly. The US president opposes this government’s policies that track with what Netanyahu has supported for most of his political career, and that is strengthening the Jewish presence in Judea and Samaria and opposing a Palestinian state.
This comes as little surprise, as those are issues Biden has highlighted for the past 50 years.
Biden often mentions his 1973 meeting as a freshman senator with then-prime minister Golda Meir, quoting her as saying: “We Jews have a secret weapon in our battle with the Arabs. We have no place else to go.” But diplomatic cables about the meeting also show that he suggested Israel unilaterally withdraw from the West Bank and told Meir that Labor’s policy of building settlements is a form of creeping annexation. He also said most senators were cowed into not criticizing Israel to avoid upsetting Jewish voters.
Biden confronted then-prime minister Menachem Begin on Capitol Hill nine years later, as described in a New York Times article titled “Mood is ‘angry’ as Begin meets panel of Senate.” Biden told Begin: “Israel was losing support in this country because of the settlements policy.” Begin said Biden “more than hinted – that if we continue with this policy, it is possible that he will propose cutting our financial aid.”
Construction in eastern Jerusalem – which the Obama administration considered settlements but Israeli law does not – was the subject of 2010 tensions between a Netanyahu-led government and then-vice president Biden, usually considered the pro-Israel voice in the administration. Construction of homes in Jerusalem’s Ramat Shlomo neighborhood was announced while Biden was in Israel, which was viewed as disrespectful in Washington.
That 2010 clash combines settlements with another likely concern of Biden’s regarding inviting Netanyahu. In the CNN interview, he said: “Bibi, I think, is trying to work through his existing problems in terms of his coalition” and to “continue to move toward moderation and change.”
The president is likely worried that as long as Netanyahu has wild cards in his cabinet, they could take a cue from former minister Eli Yishai and say or do something that will embarrass Biden while the prime minister is in Washington.
Herzog, on the other hand, is a safer bet. Contrary to what some members of the progressive “Squad” who plan to boycott Herzog’s speech before both houses of Congress think, he is not there to represent Netanyahu’s government. The office of the president is supposed to be politically neutral.
But even if someone does not accept that, Herzog comes from the Labor Party, the Center-Left, and not the Likud Right. He also historically opposes settlement construction outside of major blocs and is the key figure trying to bring compromise and consensus on judicial reform.
That makes Herzog a representative of Israel who, while likely to have a very smooth visit to Washington, sends a more pointed message to Netanyahu.