There are no assurances that a Republican administration will be that much more favorable to Israel
This latest incarnation of the Netanyahu government, even with Itamar Ben Gvir and Bezalel Smotrich holding senior cabinet positions, was at its deferential best during last week’s visit from Jake Sullivan, President Biden’s national security advisor.
At the government’s urging, a Jerusalem planning board delayed consideration of expansion plans for a Jewish neighborhood in Jerusalem. The Defense Ministry dutifully dismantled a new outpost in Judea named in memory of Rabbi Chaim Druckman, a spiritual leader of the national-religious community. And when a bipartisan US Senate delegation led by Senator Jacky Rosen (D-NV) met several top Knesset members and steered clear of Smotrich and Ben Gvir, no one uttered a peep.
To add insult to injury, just as Sullivan was conveying the Biden administration’s profound fears over Netanyahu’s plans to reform the judiciary, Israel’s High Court bared its teeth, applying their form of cancel culture to Aryeh Deri.
We don’t pretend to know everything said behind closed doors. We don’t know if Netanyahu merely listened politely, or if he diplomatically told Sullivan that Biden ought to be more concerned about the directional tilt of his own Supreme Court than Israel’s, but the Netanyahu government conveys weakness when it bows to an American agenda that runs counter to Israel’s long-term national interests.
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