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WASHINGTON – President Biden waited more than three weeks after his inauguration to make his first contact with Benjamin Netanyahu, the prime minister of Israel at the time. Biden took less than three hours after the swearing in of Netanyahu’s successor, Naftali Bennett, to call what the White House called his “warm congratulations.”
Mr. Bennett reciprocated, and on Monday, Yair Lapid, his centrist partner in the embarrassing coalition that convened to oust Mr. Netanyahu, went even further, blaming Netanyahu for poisoning Israel’s relationship with Biden and the Democratic Party.
The change in government in Israel will not erase the deep differences with the Biden administration: Right-wing Mr. Bennett is ideologically closer to Mr. Netanyahu than to Biden. He did not diminish the difficulty of resolving outstanding issues in the Middle East.
But analysts said the early interactions point to a shift in tone and an opportunity for a less contentious relationship, with potential ramifications for dealing with Iran, the Palestinians and the wider region.
“The tone and substance of the relationship got off to a very good start,” said Daniel Kurtzer, US ambassador to Israel from 2001 to 2005.
“It is clear that the Biden administration wants to send a message that it is open to business and serious dialogue,” he added, noting the speed of calls from Mr. Biden and one from Secretary of State Anthony J. Blinken to Mr. Lapid.
In a statement on Sunday, Mr. Bennett’s office said it considered the US president a “great friend of the State of Israel” and planned to “strengthen relations between the two countries.”
In a speech on Monday, Mr. Lapid said the Netanyahu government’s management of its relationship with the Democratic Party “has been negligent and dangerous.”
“We find ourselves with a Democratic White House and the Senate and the House of Representatives, and they are angry,” said Mr. Lapid, Israel’s new foreign minister, who will succeed Mr. Bennett as prime minister. Minister in two years. “We need to change the way we work with them.”
Although Mr. Bennett shares and even amplifies many of his predecessor’s hard-line views on issues that have soured US-Israel relations recently, including Iran’s nuclear program and Israel’s attitude toward the Palestinians, Mr Netanyahu’s hostile exit after 12 years has come as a relief to the administration Biden.
Mr. Biden has always considered Mr. Netanyahu a friend, though he often disagrees with him. But many administration officials and congressional Democrats deeply despise the ousted Israeli leader, whom they view as a destructive force and de facto political ally of Republicans, including former President Donald J. Trump.
Natan Sacks, director of the Brookings Institution’s Center for Middle East Policy, said during an online session hosted by Carnegie Monday that Biden administration officials “don’t like Bibi, and they see the possibility of a fresh start with Bennett.” Endowment for International Peace.
“I think fundamental change is possible,” added Mr. Kurtzer, now a professor at the Princeton School of Public and International Affairs. “You now have a government where there is a prime minister who doesn’t think he knows better than Washington what the United States should do.”
Analysts noted that Israel’s fragile new coalition government, which brings together political parties with divergent views, lacks political consensus to adopt major new policies toward the Palestinians.
updated
June 14, 2021, 5:49 PM ET
“There won’t be any big moves,” said Mr. Sacks. Mr. Bennett and Mr. Lapid hope to make politics “boring,” he said, and focus on internal affairs such as Israel’s economy and its budget.
That means there is almost no chance of Israel annexing occupied West Bank territory of the kind that Mr. Netanyahu recently contemplated, a move that would have triggered a diplomatic crisis with the Biden administration.
At the same time, the new Israeli government has little interest in or capacity for new peace initiatives with the Palestinians.
Mr. Bennett has publicly opposed the two-state solution to Israel and the Palestinians that the United States has long favored. American foreign policy experts have been told that Bennett was referring to a book called “Catch-67” by Israeli author Micah Goodman, which argues that there is no possibility of any comprehensive final peace agreement between the Israelis and the Palestinians. His recipe is to reduce friction around the issue rather than trying to solve an intractable problem.
While Mr. Biden supports a two-state solution, he does not consider it realistic in the short term. Determined to shift America’s focus from the Middle East to restoring alliances with Europe and confronting a rising China, he did not actively seek one, and unlike his few previous predecessors, he did not appoint an envoy to broker a peace agreement.
But Biden administration officials, who have called for rapid reconstruction of Gaza after the conflict that erupted last month between Israel and Hamas, the armed group that controls Gaza, may soon find themselves frustrated with the slow pace at which international aid is moving into it. The area whose infrastructure has been severely damaged.
At the same time, a new wave of internal violence between Jews and Arabs inside Israel, such as the one that unfolded last month in the Gaza conflict, could test relations between Mr. Biden and Mr. Bennett, a staunch supporter of nationalist groups and Israeli settlers. Which Biden officials see as an obstacle to peace.
Youssef Munir, a Palestinian-American analyst and fellow at the Arab Center in Washington, DC, said Israeli and US officials may hope to “put a new face on old politics” and return to a situation where Palestinian issues do not receive global attention like they did this spring.
“The challenge is that the conditions on the ground will not necessarily be right for this farce,” he said.
Biden has yet to contend with sharp criticism from progressive Democrats in Congress over Israel’s occupation of the West Bank, which has led to increased calls for cuts or restrictions on the $3.8 billion in annual military aid the United States sends to Israel.
Israel’s Defense Minister, Benny Gantz, visited Washington this month asking for $1 billion in additional US money to renovate Israel’s Iron Dome anti-missile system, which has intercepted thousands of Hamas rockets fired toward Israeli cities. While they emphasized their support for the Iron Dome system, Biden administration officials did not stick to that number.
Another test case for the new relationship may emerge from Vienna, where nuclear talks between several world powers and the United States and Iran resumed for a sixth round at the weekend. The Biden administration, which is offering sanctions relief, hopes to persuade Iran to return to compliance with the 2015 nuclear agreement that Bennett and Mr. Lapid opposed on the grounds that it did not sufficiently limit Iran’s nuclear program.
Haley Swiffer, chief executive of the Jewish Democratic Council of America, said she was optimistic that discussion of the Iran deal would be more moderate than it was under Obama, when Mr. Netanyahu angered the White House with a speech to Congress opposing it. nuclear deal.
“To the extent that the Israeli government is no longer trying to interfere in our internal politics, we hope that this will be very different from what happened in 2015,” she said.
But Michael Doran, a former National Security Council official for Middle East affairs in the George W. Bush White House, cautioned that a threat as fundamental as Iran’s potential nuclear weapons capability was too great for the friendliest to ignore.
“I don’t think the Israelis will give up their opposition” to the nuclear deal, he said. I don’t think they will give up their covert operations to disrupt Iran’s nuclear program. This will create great friction between Jerusalem and Washington.”
Nor does Netanyahu plan to leave the public stage, especially when it comes to an Iran deal he has long denounced.
In fiery remarks on Sunday, Mr. Netanyahu angrily warned that Mr. Lapid would pose a weak opponent against renewing this agreement.
“The prime minister of Israel must be able to say no to the president of the United States on issues that threaten our existence,” Mr. Netanyahu said, according to The Times of Israel. This government does not want and cannot oppose the United States.
Annie Carney contributed reporting from Washington and Patrick Kingsley in Jerusalem.
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