Israel may prefer Trump, but Biden is no stranger

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has channeled most of his country in hoping that US President Donald Trump could win a second term. But there also has been a lot of good feeling toward his Democratic challenger, former Vice President Joe Biden, a longtime champion of the US-Israel relationship and friend of the prime minister. What anxiety there may be in Israel around the rising possibility of a Biden presidency revolves around two issues — Iran, of course, and a younger, progressive wing of the Democratic Party that is not as committed to the US-Israel partnership.

It goes without saying ... Netanyahu’s backing of Trump throughout the 2020 campaign has always been something known but not said, at least not in so many words. Netanyahu did his all in recent months to link Trump to the massive wins for Israel, and for Netanyahu himself, since 2017: normalization with the UAE and Bahrain, with Sudan next in line; moving the US Embassy to Jerusalem; recognizing Israeli sovereignty of the Golan; and withdrawing from the Iran nuclear deal, known officially as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA).

No playing with fire. But the US-Israel relationship isn’t built on one president or party. It has enjoyed rock-solid bipartisan history, and no Israeli prime minister would want to show any distance, especially in times like these, with the election outcome still hanging in the balance.

Case in point, as Ben Caspit reports here: On Oct. 23, during a highly publicized three-way call between Trump, Netanyahu and Sudanese Sovereign Council President Abdel Fattah al-Burhan announcing Sudan-Israel normalization, “Netanyahu managed to avoid a trap set by the president over his Democratic rival,” Caspit writes. “Trump asked whether Netanyahu thought ‘Sleepy Joe could have made this deal.’ After a second of hesitation, Netanyahu responded, ‘Mr. President, one thing I can tell you is we appreciate the help for peace from anyone in America.’”