Biden promises ‘steadfast partnership’ with Israel in meeting with Bennett

WASHINGTON – President Biden used his first meeting with Israeli Prime Minister Naftali Bennett on Friday to stress that working closely with a longtime ally in the Middle East was still at the center of his administration, even though the crisis in Afghanistan has opened it up to criticism that it is ceding ground across the region to extremists.

The meeting, originally scheduled for Thursday but delayed by a day due to the deadly terrorist attack at Kabul airport that killed 13 U.S. servicemen, also offered Biden a brief break in the chaotic withdrawal from Afghanistan and the opportunity to project the confidence of a president consulting a favorable foreign ally.

“I can’t wait for us to build a strong personal relationship,” said Mr. Biden, sitting in the Oval Office next to Mr. Bennett. He said the purpose of the meeting was to demonstrate “an unwavering partnership between our two nations”. Both men wore masks.

The two leaders have important political differences. In an interview with the New York Times days before Friday’s meeting, Mr Bennett said he would oppose US attempts to re-establish a nuclear deal with Iran and expand the West Bank settlements to which Mr Biden s ‘opposite.

Mr Biden said on Friday that they planned to discuss the United States’ commitment to ensure that Iran never develops nuclear weapons.

“We prioritize diplomacy and see where it takes us,” he said. “If diplomacy fails, we are prepared to look to other options.

White House press secretary Jen Psaki reiterated on Friday that diplomacy was the best option.

Despite their political differences, the two leaders were eager to reset relations between their countries and strengthen a bond that has shown signs of tension.

Mr. Biden tried to point out the connection points. “We have become close friends,” he said. “He rode the Amtrak train a lot,” added the president, whose estimated 8,000 round trips on the line have earned him the nickname “Amtrak Joe”. Mr Biden also noted that he has worked closely with every Israeli prime minister since Golda Meir.

Mr Bennett arrived at the White House on Friday, eager to consolidate his place on the world stage and stress that his longtime predecessor, Benjamin Netanyahu, was not irreplaceable. The visit was also an opportunity to deliver on his campaign promise that Mr. Netanyahu’s style of direct confrontation with Democrats was not in Israel’s best interests.

“I bring with me a new spirit,” he said. “A spirit of goodwill, a spirit of hope, decency and honesty, a spirit of unity and bipartisanship.”

Mr. Bennett’s new, diverse coalition government, which includes parties that support the Palestinian state and other opposites, is a powerful example of the kind of democratic standards Mr. Biden is committed to strengthening, both at home. than abroad. The meeting was also an opportunity for him to strengthen Mr. Bennett.

“He’s the guy from Biden,” said Aaron David Miller, a former Middle East negotiator and adviser to the Republican and Democratic administrations. “He offered him a huge respite from what would have been Netanyahu’s highly partisan and politicized courtesy to Republicans, who would have been only too happy to play the game.”

Mr Miller added that whatever political differences divide the two leaders, Mr Biden has “a much stronger incentive to ensure that Bennett survives and Netanyahu does not return to power.”

The meeting was unusual in that it fell amid the worst foreign policy crisis of Mr. Biden’s presidency so far and perhaps served as a reminder that Israel would be far off the priority list. of Mr. Biden in months and years. to come. Yet, as Mr. Biden learned in the first months of his presidency when the worst fighting between Israelis and Palestinians in seven years broke out, crises in the Middle East are hard to avoid.

“With any American president, you have to be able to show that you can walk and chew gum at the same time,” said Lucy Kurtzer-Ellenbogen, director of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict program at the American Institute. Peace. “Much of the criticism of Afghanistan is that it is an abandonment of traditional allies of the United States. It was an opportunity to sit down with a longtime and steadfast ally and say that this is always a priority and that we will work side by side. “