(BBC News) Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu visits the US this week under pressure to end the Gaza war, from both Israelis and the US administration. How might the political turbulence in Washington shape the trip and future relations?
Netanyahu is set to meet Joe Biden – if the president has recovered from Covid-19 – and address a joint session of Congress, the only foreign leader to do so for a fourth time.
The trip offers him a platform for a reset with Washington after months of tensions over his hardline approach to the war, and an opportunity to try to convince Israelis that he hasn’t undermined relations with their most important ally.
But it is overshadowed by President Biden’s decision not to seek re-election, highlighting political uncertainties about Israel’s next partner in the White House and possibly eclipsing some of the attention on Netanyahu’s visit.
The prime minister got a lot of unwelcome attention in Israel until the moment he boarded the plane.
A drumbeat of protests demanded that he stay home and focus on a ceasefire deal with Hamas to free Israeli hostages.
“Until he has signed the deal that’s on the table, I do not see how he picks up and flies across the Atlantic to address the American political chaos,” said Lee Siegal, one of the family members who has come out to demonstrate. His 65-year-old brother Keith is a captive in Gaza.
The trip is a political move, he added, unless Netanyahu stops being a “hurdle” and signs the ceasefire agreement.
Siegel reflected a widespread view that Netanyahu is slow-rolling the process for his own political reasons, roiling his negotiators when he recently threw new conditions into talks that seemed to be making progress.
The prime minister has been accused of bowing to pressure from two far-right cabinet ministers who have threatened to bring down his government if he makes concessions to Hamas.
These perceptions have added to frustrations in the White House, which announced the latest formula for talks and had been expressing optimism an agreement could be achieved.
Biden remains one of the most pro-Israel presidents to sit in the Oval Office, a self-declared Zionist who’s been lauded by Israelis for his support and empathy, cemented by his flight to Israel just days after the Hamas attacks on October 7.
But since then, he has expressed alarm at the cost of Netanyahu’s demand for a “total victory” against Hamas in Gaza.
The U.S. administration is frustrated with the Israeli prime minister for rejecting a post-war solution that involves pursuing a Palestinian state.
It is reportedly angry with him for resisting appeals to do more to protect Palestinian civilians and increase the flow of aid to them. It is facing a domestic backlash over the mounting death toll in Gaza, and it is worried that the conflict is spreading.
As Biden’s presidency weakened in the swirl of controversy over his abilities, analysts said there might be less room for him to keep up the pressure on the Israeli prime minister.
But Biden’s decision to drop out of the race could actually have strengthened his hand, says Ehud Barak, a former Israeli prime minister and a critic of Netanyahu.
“He is not a lame duck in regard to foreign policy; in a way he is more independent (because) he doesn’t have to take into account any impact on the voters,” Barak told the BBC.
“With regard to Israel, probably he feels more of a free hand to do what really needs to be done.”
