The outbreak of hostilities in Israel could not come at a worse time for Washington, given the serious institutional crisis in Congress following the dismissal of House Speaker Kevin McCarthy by his fellow Republicans; while there is a risk of an administrative shutdown if the short extension agreed a week ago expires without an agreement being reached on the approval of the federal government’s expenditure items for the fiscal year that has just begun. Any additional aid from Washington to Israel, for example to Ukraine, could be hampered in its processes by the political impasse – the Democratic administration’s Republican attempts to increase public spending – and the institutional impasse. The example of the missed aid for Ukraine in the extension is on everyone’s lips.
However, Secretary of State Antony Blinken, who has multiplied his contacts with several Arab leaders, reiterated this Sunday in statements to CNN that the US could announce additional aid to Israel in the coming hours. “We are studying the new specific wishes of the Israelis. “I think you’ll probably hear more about this today,” the secretary of state told CNN.
The open war between Israel and Hamas has helped narrow the distance between Joe Biden’s White House and Benjamin Netanyahu’s government. Despite Washington’s explicit criticism of the Israeli prime minister over the controversial judicial reform and the planned expansion of settlements in the occupied West Bank, an erosion of his opinion of democratic values and international legality, the Biden administration is this Saturday in a rush to defend Israel’s right to security : Biden himself spoke again by telephone this Sunday with Netanyahu, to whom he expressed his “complete support”. This is nothing new, it just confirms that this unified support is the policy pursued by the Democratic and Republican administrations without exception. The presence of important Jewish communities in the United States – New York is the city with the largest Jewish population outside of Israel – and the role of the powerful lobbies that represent them – albeit with different and sometimes conflicting interests – act as leverage in relation to Washington to ensure the security and defense of the Jewish state.
More information
Biden and Netanyahu discussed their positions in a bilateral meeting during the UN General Assembly in New York in September. The fact that the meeting did not take place at the White House was already a signal from Biden: since coming to power last December, Netanyahu has not yet visited the White House, the obligatory destination of Israeli leaders at every meeting. This leads to a change of government in the United States. However, to hype up the expected meeting at a Manhattan hotel, the Democratic president said he hoped to meet with Netanyahu “in Washington before the end of the year.” Israeli President Isaac Herzog, who plays a more ceremonial role, was received at the White House.
The time frame indicated by Biden could potentially be extended due to the war in Israel and the dual crises that the United States is going through. The situation in Israel and the conversation with Washington have also become political ammunition for the contentious 2024 election campaign with primaries in production. Republicans have attacked Biden’s handling of the Middle East crisis. “Iran helped finance this war against Israel, and Joe Biden’s soft policies toward Iran helped fill its coffers.” “Israel is now paying the price for these policies,” said Florida Governor Ron DeSantis , who is vying with Donald Trump for his party’s presidential nomination, on Saturday.
Join EL PAÍS to follow all the news and read without restrictions.
Subscribe to
Joe Biden, during his appearance this Saturday at the White House. Yuri Gripas / POOL (EFE)
DeSantis was referring to the prisoner exchange deal the Biden administration reached with Iran last month. Under the deal, the United States eased sanctions imposed on the Islamic Republic to transfer $6 billion (about 5.66 billion euros) in Iranian funds from South Korea to Qatar, a necessary step for the exchange. A Democratic administration official dismissed DeSantis’ accusation, ensuring that not a single dollar of the $6 billion unlocked has yet been spent and that the money will be used exclusively for humanitarian purposes.
The Abraham Accords
Like DeSantis, Trump, the Republican primary candidate – his lead this week was 40 points – has spotlighted the Democratic administration’s alleged responsibility for the Hamas attacks, consecrating a new casus belli, or hoax. the Republicans against Biden. “Unfortunately, American tax dollars helped finance these attacks, which by many reports came from the Biden administration,” Trump said without evidence. “We brought so much peace to the Middle East through the Abraham Accords, only to see Biden destroy it much faster than anyone thought possible. Here we are again,” he denounced. His legacy in the region, the so-called Abraham Accords, which almost definitively abolished the two-state solution proposed by the majority of the international community, including the democratic government, led to the normalization of relations between several Arab countries (United Arab Emirates). United States, Bahrain and Morocco) with Israel. In this way, a regional alliance against Iran was forged, which should be fundamentally anchored in the planned agreement between Israel and Saudi Arabia, promoted by Washington.
Trump insisted on attacking the Democratic government and argued that Hamas’ attacks on Israel were also the result of the “weakness and ineffectiveness” that he said the United States was displaying. “The Israeli attack came because we are perceived as weak” and ineffective and with a leader [Biden] really weak,” the former president said Saturday at a campaign rally in Waterloo, Iowa.
The narrow majority of Democrats in the Senate (51 seats compared to 49 Republicans) also prevented Democrats from ratifying the nomination of former Treasury Secretary Jack Lew as the new US ambassador to Israel. Both Democratic and Republican lawmakers have, almost without exception, coalesced around Israel. Part of the nomenklatura of both parties is Jewish.
Follow all international information on Facebook and Xor in our weekly newsletter.
Subscribe to continue reading
Read without limits