Although Israel is still a critical ally, a source familiar with White House thinking said there was some sense of reward in making Netanyahu wait for a call.
The Israeli leader’s cold treatment of former President Barack Obama, his close alignment with former President Donald Trump and the Republican Party, as well as the time it took to congratulate Biden on his victory, are not meaningless, the source said.
Biden and Netanyahu last spoke on November 17, when the Israeli leader congratulated then-elected President Biden on his victory. The call was noteworthy because Netanyahu struggled to find the right words to congratulate Biden a week earlier, talking about his personal connection between the two without calling Biden president-elect.
Publicly, however, the White House said the president is making calls to other leaders by region and will soon be in touch with those in the Middle East.
Biden, who has made 11 calls to foreign leaders plus NATO’s secretary general so far, also sent his national security team to quickly engage with Israel outside the gates. Secretary of State Antony Blinken spoke twice with Foreign Minister Gabi Ashkenazi. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin spoke with Defense Minister Benny Gantz and National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan spoke with his Israeli counterpart, Meir Ben Shabbat. There is constant communication between governments, said several officials familiar with US-Israel relations.
The fact that Biden has not yet called Netanyahu is not a cause for concern, five officials said, pointing to the countless other conversations between governments.
A source with knowledge of the relationship says the lack of a phone call did not affect the dynamics of the relationship. It is not a point of friction between countries during the ongoing talks, according to the source. “This is part of being a normal and normalized relationship,” said the source.
White House spokeswoman Jen Psaki told reporters at Thursday’s White House briefing that “the president hopes to speak to Prime Minister Netanyahu. He is obviously someone with whom he has a long-standing relationship and, obviously, there is an important relationship that the United States has with Israel on the security front and as a key partner in the region. ”
“He will speak to him soon,” added Psaki, but declined to provide a specific date or time when they would speak.
– I assume he’ll call me. Believe me, I have no doubt about it. ‘
At a rare press conference by the longtime Israeli leader on Monday, Netanyahu played down the delay. “[President Biden] calls leaders in whatever order they find acceptable, North America, then Europe, “said Netanyahu.” He has not yet arrived in the Middle East. I assume he’ll call me. Believe me, I have no doubt about it. “
Netanyahu went on to say that the alliance between Israel and the United States was strong, although “it does not mean that we will agree on everything”.
Meanwhile, Israel is waiting.
“Joe Biden”, Danon tweeted, “you called world leaders from # Canada, # Mexico, #UK, # India, # Japan, # France, #Germany, # Australia, #South Korea, # Russia. Now it’s the time to call the leader of #Israel, the closest ally of the #US? The PM number is: 972-2-670555. ”
Danon told Israeli Army Radio on Thursday that he “did not formulate the tweet, but I take responsibility for it”, adding that “the choice of words was unsuccessful, but I keep the message”.
Three officials said Danon’s tweet was largely driven by Israeli domestic politics and long-standing tension between Danon and Netanyahu. But the reaction came quickly, with many using Danon’s tweet to interpret Biden’s silence as politically motivated.
Biden is the ‘right size’
Current and former US officials point to the close-to-decades relationship between Netanyahu and Biden and say that if there is any signal being sent, it is about US strategic priorities. Biden is “correctly evaluating” the US relationship with Israel, they say, and that, with the challenges posed by China, Russia, climate change and other problems, the Middle East is not a priority.
Aaron David Miller, a CNN contributor who is a former Middle East peace negotiator and a senior member of the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, suggested that US priorities changed rapidly in the early weeks of the Biden government.
“Memorandum to all interested parties,” he tweeted. “A call will come. But a clear message is being sent. Netanyahu was Trump’s third call. To quote Dorothy, we are no longer in Kansas.”
“I am confident that this is not Israel or anything that happened in the years of Obama or Trump,” said Daniel Shapiro, Obama’s ambassador to Israel. “It is simply about what Biden’s priorities are: Covid, economic recovery, climate change and racial justice. And in foreign policy, it is revitalizing central alliances in Europe and Asia, restoring US leadership on multilateral issues, preparing for the challenge from China, and facing the challenge from Russia. He was absolutely disciplined in these priorities. But I’m sure the call will happen soon. “
The Biden government has also sent reassuring signals to Israel on several fronts, making it publicly clear that it will not reverse some of Trump’s most controversial political measures, including the move of the U.S. Embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem and the declaration of the holy city of Israel’s capital. . And Blinken made it clear that the U.S. will maintain the normalization agreements that the Trump administration brokered between Israel and countries in the Gulf region and elsewhere.
But Blinken’s comments on the Golan Heights to CNN’s Wolf Blitzer on Monday raised some eyebrows. Israel captured the Syrian Golan Heights in 1967 and has been administering it ever since, but under international law, it is considered occupied territory. Trump broke with international consensus when he recognized Israeli sovereignty in the Golan Heights.
Asked whether the Biden government will continue to see the Golan Heights as part of Israel, Blinken said: “Leaving aside legalities, as a practical matter, the Golan is very important for Israel’s security while Assad is in power in Syria, like while Iran is present in Syria, militia groups supported by Iran, the Assad regime itself … over time, if the situation changed in Syria, it is something that we would look at. We are not even close to that ”.
The next day, Netanyahu said: “The Golan Heights were and will continue to be part of the State of Israel. With or without an agreement, we will not leave Golan. He will remain under the sovereignty of the State of Israel.”