Trump’s call with Netanyahu, to announce the deal, was
recorded by reporters. “Do you think Sleepy Joe could have
made this deal, Bibi, Sleepy Joe?” Trump said, inviting Netanyahu
to join him in insulting the former vice president he currently
trails in the polls. “Do you think he would’ve made this
deal? Somehow, I don’t think so,” Trump added.
But Netanyahu, well aware that he could soon be on the phone
with a President Biden instead, failed to deliver the partisan hit
requested of him.
As the Israeli prime minister began, “Well, Mr. President, one
thing I can tell you, is, um…” Trump looked up at the reporters in
the room with expectation and a self-satisfied grin. His expression
changed, however, when Netanyahu concluded, “we appreciate the help
for peace from anyone in America, and we appreciate what
you’ve done enormously.”
Trump: “Do you think Sleepy Joe could have
made this deal, Bibi, Sleepy Joe?”Israeli PM Netanyahu: “Uh … well … Mr. President, one thing I
can tell you is we appreciate the help for peace from anyone in
America.” pic.twitter.com/LU02tEOXtK— The Recount (@therecount) October 23, 2020
Trump is gone, Netanyahu is next
It is time Biden resets US relations with Israel.
Marwan Bishara
No one is as devastated by President Donald Trump’s
defeat as Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. Not even the
crown princes of the United Arab Emirates and Saudi
Arabia.
These Gulf leaders may have been dependent on Trump for pursuing
regional mischief and are sad to see him go, but compared to them,
Netanyahu has lost much more than a partner in crime: he lost his
soul mate, his American alter ego.
So what made their relationship so special and what does the
future hold for Netanyahu now that Trump is passé? A match made in
hell
Trump and Netanyahu saw eye to eye on almost everything,
starting with their hatred for Barack Obama and the Obama-Biden
administration, which they expressed with much venom.
For four years, they did everything possible to undo all that
Obama left behind, starting with reversing his decoupling of the US
and Israeli regional strategies and exiting the Iran nuclear
deal.
They demonised the Iranian leadership, praised Arab dictators,
and worked diligently to establish a new strategic partnership
between these autocrats and Israel in order to confront the Arab
people and Iran.
Trump and Netanyahu criticised and even humiliated Europe for
upholding its liberal values and honouring its foreign policy
commitments, especially for abiding by the Iran nuclear
agreement.
And they held similar contemptuous and hostile views towards the
United Nations and its various international agencies.
Most outrageously, they ganged up on the Palestinians, who have
been suffering under Israeli occupation for decades, blackmailing
their leaders and stripping them of all aid and stature to force
them to submit to their dictates.
In this, they were aided by Trump’s son-in-law and Netanyahu’s
family friend, Jared Kushner, the sneaky arriviste who made sure
that both egocentric leaders remain on good terms.
A Zionist extremist, Kushner is the architect of Trump’s
infamous “deal of the century”, which adopted Netanyahu’s racist
colonial logic in Palestine.
But that is not all that made the Trump-Netanyahu bromance so
eerie. As I wrote earlier this year, there are other more
disturbing personal similarities between the two cynics.
Both are known to be serial liars; both have a history of
adultery and have been divorced twice; and both have faced charges
of misuse of public office for personal and political gain.
And still, both have been able to command the support of
religious fanatics who have come to consider the two morally
challenged sinners as God’s vessels, serving, albeit
unintentionally, a divine purpose.
Indeed, Trump has embraced the same ultra-nationalist, even
racist, agendas that Netanyahu has long championed in Israel and
the Middle East.
Both men are populist showmen, rallying their right-wing
constituencies around their populist personas even when they proved
incompetent in managing their countries’ worst crises, including
the coronavirus pandemic. Netanyahu in Trump’s footsteps
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After driving itself to the edge, America gazed into the abyss
and decided to pull back last week.
The majority has rejected four more years of Tsunami
Trump, fearing he would end up destroying their democracy and
national unity.
Instead, they voted for the restoration of the country’s
democratic and liberal institutions, and for healing the nation’s
wounds.
But just as Trump has tried to undo everything Obama, Biden is
about to reverse Trump’s reversals, and perhaps more.
He is set to rejoin the Paris Agreement on climate
change, the Iran nuclear deal, the World Health Organization and
probably UNESCO, among other agreements and institutions Trump has
challenged or abandoned. He has also vowed to end the travel ban
from Muslim-majority countries.
And he seems set to bring relations with the Palestinians back
to their Obama-era level, resuming aid, reinstating the Palestinian
Liberation Organization office in Washington, rejecting annexation,
pursuing a two-state solution, etc.
This will not be enough to change the situation in Palestine,
let alone end the occupation and bring about an independent
Palestinian state.
Biden, who once boasted of being a non-Jewish Zionist, is not
about to project his hostility to the Trump-Netanyahu axis onto US
relations with Israel.
He will not veer too far from traditional US policy on Israel,
regurgitating the old mantras about preserving Israeli security and
regional military superiority. But there are things Biden can and
should do to put Netanyahu in a bind. Time for a reset
Biden could deny the embattled Israeli premier any of
the customary support and courtesy afforded to Israeli leaders. And
he may not tolerate any of the prime minister’s humiliating
outbursts or hostile criticisms, which became his habit during the
Obama era.
Likewise, Biden could reject Netanyahu’s unilateral moves in
Palestine, or in the region, if they are illegal and are made
without prior coordination with Washington.
So, in short, Biden could make the coming months debilitating,
inhibiting, and outright humiliating for the Israeli prime
minister.
He may even turn his back on Netanyahu and make him persona non
grata at the White House.
Bibi, as the prime minister is called in Israel, is already
facing trial on three charges of corruption that carry prison
sentences, making it a matter of time before his coalition or party
turns on him.
That is why Biden needs to go beyond Netanyahu and deliver a
clear message to the Israeli right.
He needs to back his verbal opposition to Israel’s settlement
and annexation policy with action, notably by leveraging US aid to
pressure the Israeli government into doing the right thing.
This is indispensable to reset the US-Israel relationship that
has gone awry during the Trump administration.
It will also be an important lesson for the next prime minister
of Israel who, judging from the list of potential candidates, may
be as bad as, if not worse than, Netanyahu.
It is indeed high time that the president of the US abandons
appeasement, which has long proven counterproductive, even
destructive, in favour of pressure or “tough love”, as they like to
say in Washington, which by contrast has proven effective with
Israel and beneficial for peace and security.
Netanyahu has spent a lifetime in politics telling Israelis not
to worry about US reactions because he knows how to deal with
Washington.
It is time he is proven wrong.
Biden has already defeated America’s Netanyahu; it is time he
takes on Israel’s Trump.
Goodbye Donald, bye Jared, and bye-bye Bibi.