Netanyahu’s Tour de U.S.A
By Benjamin Meppen
With the United Nations General Assembly meeting rolling into New York City next week, all eyes will be on Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. After months of protest and in-fighting in Israel, Netanyahu will jet his way over to the United States to collect support from world leaders and deflect criticism from others, including the United States. President Biden has long and complicated relationships with the long-standing Israeli prime minister. Their buddy-buddy friendship of the early 2000s has turned sour after Netanyahu’s less than friendly relationship with Biden’s former boss, President Obama. Obama and Netanyahu often clashed over Israel’s expansion of control in the disputed territories in the West Bank and surrounding villages.
Additionally, their relationship froze over when President Obama rolled out the JCPOA (better known as the Iran Nuclear Deal). After the deal, Netanyahu was livid, saying that Obama was weak on Iran by allowing them to conduct their background checks and secretly develop a nuclear weapon under the United States and Israel’s nose. After four lovey-dovey years of Trump, Netanyahu is back on U.S. soil to butt heads with Biden, but the question is, what does this say about the future of the U.S.-Israel relationship?
The question of Iran has loomed in Netanyahu’s head long before Obama even took power, and it remains a top threat to the Jewish nation even today. Netanyahu’s love affair with Trump started when the 45th president pulled out of what he called the “disastrous Iran nuclear deal.” Additionally, President Trump fulfilled his campaign promises of moving the U.S. embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem and recognizing Israel’s sovereignty over the Golan Heights region in the north. As for Biden and Netanyahu, Iran remains a contentious issue, with Netanyahu saying yesterday, “I am now leaving for the UN General Assembly where I will represent Israel before the nations of the world…I will also meet with many world leaders, especially President Biden, with whom I will discuss — first and foremost, but among other topics — Iran and expanding the circle of peace.”
On the surface, Biden and Netanyahu’s policy disagreements are hummus under the bridge, as Israel’s president, Isaac Herzog, delivered a poignant and powerful speech before a joint session of Congress this past July. In this speech, Herzog reassured American lawmakers that the Jewish homeland stands strong in a crisis and that their support is pivotal to Israel now more than ever. Herzog comforted senators and congresspeople alike that Netanyahu’s judicial system reform is not the lay of the land in Israel and that he firmly subscribes to an “independent judiciary.” In so many words, Herzog came to the United States to tell us and the world that Israel will be alright and that after the dark clouds of Likud and Netanyahu pass in the wind, the sunshine of democracy and a fair judicial system will shine again. In Herzog’s address to the United States, he acknowledged the tense protests that have been occurring in Israel for the better part of 2023 and vowed to help bring peace and stability to the streets of Israel and the halls of the Knesset.
Herzog’s words to Congress were excellent and acceptable. Still, the question remains: will Netanyahu’s rapid and fervent decline into chaos and protest stain Israel’s relationship with the United States? It’s hard to tell with Netanyahu en route to San Jose to meet with AI experts and Twitter/X CEO Elon Musk (cue joke about Israel’s “start-up nation”). Netanyahu is making strides to grow Israel’s technological landscape and put Israel in a position to lead the world into the next technological boom. However, that is hard to do when you are entirely embroiled in controversy. Netanyahu’s upcoming meetings with Musk, Biden, and the UN General Assembly are all distractions or side quests meant to take the public’s eyes off of the mass protests in the streets of Tel Aviv.
Netanyahu is playing the role of diplomat and world ambassador, yes, but he is not playing the role of a shepherd of peace in the homeland. He has deserted a furious Israeli population in the street and has jetted off to Washington for photo opportunities. Time and time again, Netanyahu has been a beacon of power and resilience for the state of Israel but, in this current term, he has proven unfit to be the head of the Knesset and unfit to be at the epicenter of legislation in the Jewish homeland. The hope and will of the Israeli people is that Netanyahu will return stateside after his tour de United States and look at his judicial reforms in a different light, with a renewed appreciation for separation of powers and checks and balances. It seems unlikely that he will have a monarchical ah-ha moment in the coming days, but here’s to hoping.
