Israel’s Netanyahu has made himself persona non grata in Washington
The conciliatory phone call between Blinken and Cohen could not hide the growing rift and even crisis developing between Jerusalem and the Biden administration.
TEL AVIV — US Secretary of State Antony Blinken spoke on the phone with Israel’s Foreign Minister Eli Cohen on Thursday, in an attempt to lower tensions after a Tuesday statement by President Joe Biden that he will not invite Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu anytime soon to the White House.
State Department spokesperson Vedant Patel told reporters that in his conversation with Cohen, Blinken had “reaffirmed the importance of the enduring US-Israel bilateral relationship.”
The phone call between Blinken and Cohen is unlikely to repair the constantly growing rift between Jerusalem and the Biden administration. From a country with almost mythical influence in Washington, long courted by less popular regimes seeking an entree into the White House, Israel’s government has become a pariah almost overnight. Netanyahu himself is on his way to a White House B-list that includes Turkey's Recep Tayyip Erdogan and Saudi Arabia's Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman. At this rate, he may even win a place for himself next to Russian President Vladimir Putin.
Netanyahu’s return to power after the Nov. 1 elections at the head of a solid ultranationalist Knesset coalition has been greeted with dismay at home and abroad. In response, the Biden administration adopted a simple rule of thumb — it would not waste time dealing with the radical nationalists in power, such as National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir and Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich, and would hold Netanyahu accountable for their actions and policies. Biden, having known Netanyahu for some four decades as a generally cautious leader, appeared to take the Israeli leader at his word, albeit with misgivings, when he pledged to keep both hands on the wheel.
