Netanyahu checked all the boxes on his US trip — except one
PM set record with 4th speech to Congress and enjoyed warm meetings with Biden and Trump, but his office is still fuming at VP, thereby risking further harm to ties with Democrats
Jacob Magid is The Times of Israel's US bureau chief
WASHINGTON — Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu was in his element this week in the United States.
He gave a tour de force speech to a joint session of Congress on Wednesday, clearly at home as he forcefully laid out Israel’s case, to a rapturous response from many of those in attendance. His office counted each of the 44 standing ovations.
The speech largely played well back home, with many Israelis glad to see an audience abroad that supports their war against Hamas. Even opposition party chief Benny Gantz offered praise for the performance, saying Netanyahu had represented the country well.
The next day, Netanyahu had meetings with US President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris, now the Democratic Party’s presumptive presidential nominee. On Friday, Netanyahu traveled to the Mar-a-Lago resort in Florida where he reunited with former president and current Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump.
Netanyahu’s meeting with Biden went smoothly. Relations between the two are widely reported to have been very rocky in recent months amid disagreements over the handling of the war, but the two were all smiles as they faced the media. As for Trump, “F**k him” was one of the last things the former president said publicly about the premier after Netanyahu congratulated Biden on winning the 2020 election. But on Friday, Trump argued to reporters that their relationship had actually always been good.
Even the hostage families, who have been heavily critical of Netanyahu’s handling of the negotiations to free their loved ones, left their Thursday meeting with the premier and Biden telling reporters that they haven’t been this optimistic about the chances for an agreement since the last one was implemented in late November.
Netanyahu thus seemed to have checked all the major boxes prior to his return home Saturday evening. That return, however, was moved forward by a few hours after a Hezbollah rocket struck a soccer field in the Druze village of Majdal Shams, killing 12 people, all aged 10-20. It was the most deadly attack on civilians since Hamas’s October 7 onslaught, and sparked fears of still greater escalation or even all-out war in the north.
The one blotch on Netanyahu’s trip was his meeting with Harris, which a senior Israeli official briefing reporters in Washington contrasted with the “positive” nature of his sit-down with Biden.
Netanyahu didn’t appreciate the way she expressed her concern over the humanitarian crisis in Gaza — both because he thought she overstated the situation and because she suggested Israel was partially responsible. But the premier took greater issue with the press statement Harris gave after the meeting.
Officials in Netanyahu’s office tore into Harris’s “tone,” what they described as her exaggeration of the humanitarian issue and, most critically, her call for an end to the war, given that Israel is seeking to ensure that the hostage release and ceasefire deal being negotiated will allow the IDF to resume fighting against Hamas after the six-week first phase.
But other US officials have for months issued the same call as Harris did, including Biden himself when he unveiled the hostage deal proposal Israel submitted in late May.
“It’s time for this war to end,” Biden said in that address.
Harris, in her Thursday remarks, added “… and end in a way where Israel is secure.”
It’s true that the generational gap between Biden and Harris makes for a different outlook on Israel.
During an interview earlier this month, a podcaster asked Biden if he was a Zionist, presenting it as somewhat of a gotcha question, given how politically charged the term has become in progressive circles.
But Biden stuck by the identifier, as he long has.
As for Harris, she frequently reminisces about having given money as a child to plant trees in Israel for the Jewish National Fund — as Zionist a charity as there is.
But in her Thursday remarks, she pushed back on efforts to frame the conflict as a binary, in an apparent effort to establish greater linkage between Israel and the Palestinians.
Biden became the first president in decades not to pursue peace talks, arguing that the sides are not yet ready for final-status negotiations and instead should focus on taking incremental steps toward an eventual two-state framework.
The administration has changed its tone since October 7, placing more emphasis on the more imminent need for a two-state solution, but a senior Democratic official said Harris would push harder on this as president.
Speaking to reporters immediately after the vice president’s speech on Thursday, a senior Israeli official accused Harris of creating daylight between Israel and the US, which could lead the terror group to up its demands, thereby harming chances for a deal.
In making such an accusation about the Democratic Party’s presumptive presidential nominee to a room full of reporters, the senior Israeli official would seem to risk creating additional daylight between Israel and the US.
But Netanyahu seems to banking on, or at least preparing for, Trump to be back in the Oval Office in January.
He and his wife Sara were gushing as they arrived at the Mar-a-Lago resort, where Trump greeted them at the entrance.
“We missed you!” the prime minister’s wife declared as the three embraced.
Netanyahu has often faced criticism for backing the GOP candidate in past presidential elections — assertions he has long rejected.
In 2016, he met with both Trump and Democrat Hillary Clinton ahead of the election.
His decision to meet Harris and Trump allows him to once again hit back at accusations of election meddling.
But rank-and-file Democrats seem to disagree — and roughly 100 in the House and 28 in the Senate skipped Netanyahu’s speech, according to the Axios news site.
Harris also managed to be out of town for the event, which would have uncomfortably placed her right behind Netanyahu, presiding over the session as vice president, as he tacitly chided the administration for slow-walking weapons deliveries to Israel.
Former House speaker Nancy Pelosi, who is still one of the most influential members of the Democratic Party, called the address, “by far the worst presentation of any foreign dignitary invited and honored with the privilege of addressing the Congress of the United States.”
Many might disagree, but the fact that such a prominent Democrat feels comfortable giving such a biting critique of the Israeli leader is an astounding testament to the current status of relations between the Jewish state and what is now becoming Harris’s party.
