The meaning of no contact during Bibi-Biden’s election year

A curious thing happened in mid-September when Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu traveled to Washington to sign the Abraham Accords and made no public effort to approach Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden: Absolutely nothing, no one seemed to care. Not in Israel, not in the United States. In Israel this break with tradition – prime ministers usually meet with the two main presidential candidates during an election year – barely registered, and only the head of the opposition Yair Lapid called it a mistake – and that only when asked. on The Jerusalem Post Editor-in-Chief Yaakov Katz’s Affair at the Jerusalem Post conference last month. Why not? Why was Netanyahu not beaten by political opponents for not approaching Biden? Why didn’t Yediot Ahronot jump on this and paste it all over his cover? Because, considering the closeness of Netanyahu’s relationship with the president of the United States, Donald Trump, there was no real expectation that he would do anything to antagonize the president. And Netanyahu meeting with Biden, or even communicating with him publicly with a phone call, during a trip to Washington to sign the peace accords negotiated by the Trump administration would surely have done exactly that, but no one in America seemed to care either. What’s even more telling is that no one seemed to care about Biden’s campaign. The leaks, for example, did not stem from close aides to the former vice president who criticized Netanyahu for “blatantly taking sides” or “disrespecting” a man who could be president. During the 2016 elections, less than two months before the United States vote. Both Trump and the teams of Democratic opponent Hillary Clinton were eager to arrange a meeting with Netanyahu. Those meetings were held in New York on the sidelines of the annual meeting of the UN General Assembly.This time, however, there was no public indication from Biden’s team before Netanyahu flew to Washington that they were interested in a public meeting or phone call during the prime minister’s two-night stay, as was Biden’s camp did not protest after no such meeting or phone call had taken place. Why not? Because while in the past, meetings with the Israeli prime minister were a way for presidential candidates to show unwavering support for the Jewish state, it is by no means a fact that a Biden photoshoot with Netanyahu, a polarizing figure for many Americans and American Jews because of his close association with Trump, it would be something that would help Biden with voters. Such a photo would certainly do nothing to energize the progressive wing of his party, and could even alienate American voters, including Jews, who loathe Trump and see Netanyahu as his Israeli twin. The lack of resentment on the part of Biden’s camp, as well as the fact that the campaign does little to publicly push for a meeting or phone call, speaks volumes about the degree to which Israel under Netanyahu has become a partisan issue. Israeli ministers have historically felt the need to meet with candidates from both parties during an election year. The last time an Israeli prime minister did not meet with the two US presidential candidates was in 2004 when Ariel Sharon met with George W. Bush, but during that same visit to the US John Kerry was evicted, the Democratic candidate. a meeting with Sharon, but they were turned away by Sharon’s aides who said there was no time, the same reason given by Netanyahu staff when asked why he did not meet with Biden in September. While Jerusalem’s overt proposals to Biden’s campaign would undoubtedly draw Trump’s ire, Israel would be asleep at the wheel if it hadn’t started cultivating ties with Biden’s foreign policy team, and there are plenty of ways to do so. First, Netanyahu and Biden have a relationship that goes back decades, and Biden said in 2012 that he “loves” Netanyahu, even though he disagrees with a “damn thing,” he says. Israeli officials also have good connections. with various people considered part of Biden’s foreign policy advisory team, including Tom Donilon, a national security adviser under Barack Obama, and former ambassador to Israel Dan Shapiro. That Netanyahu has not met or had a phone call with Biden that was made public, and that this doesn’t seem to matter much to Biden’s campaign, is indicative of a partisan US split in Netanyahu, but it doesn’t mean that Jerusalem doesn’t stay in touch with the Biden team. Considering the degree to which current polls are smiling on the Democratic challenger, for Israel not already developing a quiet working relationship with key members of Biden’s foreign policy team would be nothing short of diplomatic negligence.