Netanyahu still waiting for Biden’s phone call
The fact that US President Joe Biden is taking his time in calling Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, and the fact that he did not refer to Israel or to the Iranian threat in his first foreign policy speech, deeply worries Jerusalem.
As of this morning, Feb. 5, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu continues to bite his nails as he waits by the phone for a long-anticipated call from the White House. Just as Netanyahu took his time congratulating US President-elect Joe Biden on his election victory over President Donald Trump in November, so now-President Biden is taking his time getting back to him. This would never have happened with Trump. Phoning Netanyahu was at the top of his to-do list when he took office in 2017. Four years later, Netanyahu has been relegated to the sidelines. The cushioned, pampered Trump protege finds himself being punished, sent to stand in the corner.
“This may not be deliberate,” an Israeli diplomatic source told Al-Monitor on condition of anonymity. “The Americans are not really focused right now on Netanyahu and his business; they have other things to deal with. Maybe Biden just doesn’t feel like handing Netanyahu an electoral advantage on the eve of Israel’s elections. After all, Biden is fully aware of who he is dealing with and knows how Netanyahu’s office will spin the first phone call between them.”
Either way, tensions in the prime minister’s office are sky high and being projected all the way to the Israeli Embassy in Washington, where newly installed Ambassador Gilad Erdan is trying to solve the mystery of the presidential silence. How come Biden picked up the phone to Jordan’s King Abdullah back in November and has still not called Netanyahu? Nonetheless, assuming the coveted phone call does take place in the coming days, no one has any doubt that despite the unfashionable delay, Netanyahu will leverage it for all its worth, describing to Israeli voters his intimate relationship with the former senator and vice president over some four decades.
Behind the scenes, Israel’s concerns are mounting. Jerusalem noted with concern Biden’s failure to mention neither Israel nor the Iranian threat in his first foreign policy speech, delivered yesterday. And there are other signs as well. Some in Jerusalem are recalling that before being appointed as the Biden administration’s special representative for Iran, Robert Malley expressed criticism over last year’s assassination of Iran’s nuclear program head Mohsen Fakhrizadeh, attributed by foreign media to Israel. Others are pouring over the recent conciliatory statements vis-a-vis Iran emanating from Washington in recent weeks regarding the express US desire to renegotiate with Iran on an amended nuclear agreement.
