US President Joe Biden’s phone call to new Prime Minister Naftali Bennett this week says a lot about how the sides hope to start their new relationship and the one between their respective countries.
Bennett had actually gotten a congratulatory letter from Russian President Vladimir Putin before Biden’s call came in, and the communications team that he brought with him from the campaign trail planned to release it to the public right after translating it.
The Prime Minister’s Office diplomatic staff stopped them – not only because they’re the ones meant to send the readouts, according to the law, but also because they knew that Biden’s call was on the way and said it should be the first statement sent to the press, to emphasize the close US-Israel relationship. That is what ultimately happened, to the Russians’ dismay.
Biden was in Cornwall, England, for the G7, but he made sure to talk to Bennett less than two hours after he was sworn in as prime minister.
Biden and Bennett have never met, in sharp contrast to former prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who has known the US president for 40 years. Netanyahu and Biden call each other friends, Biden has said many times in speeches that he “loves” Netanyahu, even if they disagree, and Netanyahu spoke about the personal phone calls they made to each other when grieving the deaths of close family members in recent years.
But while Biden waited almost a month upon assuming the presidency to call Netanyahu, he rushed to call Bennett within two hours.
Of course, the circumstances are different. Although Biden had a long list of international leaders to call after his inauguration – and he started slowly, indicating that domestic affairs were his priority – Netanyahu was still the first in the Middle East to get a call. When Biden called Bennett, he was busy with his first trip abroad as president, but there weren’t any other world leaders he needed to congratulate that day.
Still, by waiting less than two hours, Biden sent a message that talking to Bennett is a priority for him, and he wanted to start their relationship on a positive note that would reverberate in the US-Israel relationship more broadly.
The call was less than 20 minutes long, and didn’t go too deeply into the issues.
Bennett’s readout said that he thanked Biden for his years-long commitment to Israel and its security, as well as his support for Israel during Operation Guardian of the Walls last month, and that they discussed the importance of the US-Israel relationship.
“Biden highlighted his decades of steadfast support for the US-Israel relationship and his unwavering commitment to Israel’s security,” the American readout stated. “He expressed his firm intent to deepen cooperation between the United States and Israel on the many challenges and opportunities facing the region.”
That “firm intent to deepen cooperation” is a signal that the Biden administration wants to give Bennett a chance, despite his stated hawkish views, which are often to the right of Netanyahu.
The White House added a couple of specific issues to its statement, as well, such as an agreement to “consult closely on all matters related to regional security, including Iran” and “efforts to advance peace, security and prosperity for Israelis and Palestinians.”
Those additions are important because they reflect the areas in which the Biden administration will be watching Bennett.
First, there’s Iran.
NETANYAHU VERBALLY sparred with Biden in his last speech on Sunday evening: “The administration in Washington asked me not to discuss our disagreement on Iran publicly, but with all due respect, I can’t do that,” Netanyahu said, and then proceeded to compare the US returning to the Iran deal to former US President Franklin Delano Roosevelt declining to bomb the train tracks to Auschwitz when he had the chance.
It’s not a huge logical leap from Netanyahu’s many past comments – that criticize the Iran deal as appeasement and point out that the Islamic Republic has called for genocide against Israelis – to explicitly saying that supporting the Iran deal is like appeasing Nazis.
The remarks were reminiscent of former prime minister Ariel Sharon’s 2001 response to ex-President George Bush’s pressure on Israel on the Palestinian issue; Sharon said that Israel “will not be Czechoslovakia,” part of which Western Europe ceded to Hitler in 1938 in an attempt to appease him.
Understandably, US presidents do not take well to the comparison.
Bennett took a tone that was similar to Netanyahu’s in recent months, prior to Sunday, in his remarks to the Knesset: “Returning to the Iran deal is a mistake that will once again give legitimacy to one of the most violent, dark regimes in the world. Israel will not allow Iran to get nuclear weapons. Israel is not a party to the deal, and will maintain total freedom of action.”
Biden reassured Bennett that the US will continue to keep Israel apprised of matters relating to Iran – that includes the ongoing nuclear talks in Vienna – but the question remains as to whether Bennett will agree “not to discuss our disagreement on Iran publicly” as Netanyahu said the Biden administration had asked.
WHEN IT comes to the Palestinians, the Biden readout was careful in mentioning “efforts to advance peace, security and prosperity for Israelis and Palestinians.”
Bennett does not oppose peace, security and prosperity. Prosperity is, in fact, key to his view on how to “shrink the conflict,” as he said recently. The new prime minister is in favor of improving Palestinians’ quality of life through economic cooperation, in order to disincentivize them from violence against Israel and foster coexistence.
What’s not mentioned in the Biden readout is a two-state solution, which the president staunchly supports and Bennett has long opposed. Settlements, which Biden firmly opposes and Bennett would like to annex, did not come up either.
Both Bennett and Biden realize that the chance of a breakthrough on the Palestinian front is almost zero. Bennett’s “shrink the conflict” comments imply as much, and US Secretary of State Antony Blinken has said so in recent months as well. And when it comes to settlements, Bennett’s coalition, which spans from Right to Left, boxes him in and doesn’t allow him to do very much.
Biden is focusing on the areas where they agree, and which are also the most practical.
The two leaders will likely proceed cautiously with each other in the coming weeks. If their call indicates anything, it’s that they want to give the new government in Jerusalem a chance to have good relations with the administration in Washington.