benjamin Netanyahu is never at a loss for words when it comes to putting things in a completely different light. “I have to say, it is moving to see the many requests for meetings,” he said as he left for the United States early Monday morning. Israel’s prime minister will take part in the United Nations General Assembly there. “Unfortunately” he could not meet all the heads of state and government who wanted to meet him during this time, he added, but hopefully “most of them”.
Netanyahu will meet Chancellor Olaf Scholz and the presidents of Ukraine and Turkey. In Israel, however, all eyes are focused on one encounter in particular: the one with Joe Biden on Wednesday. Since Netanyahu’s return to the premiership at the end of December, the American president has given Israel the cold shoulder when it comes to inviting him to Washington.
The reason, Biden made it increasingly clear over the months, was the government’s judicial reform in Jerusalem and the religious-right nationalist ministerial team. For Netanyahu, the unusual and unmissable disrespect from his close ally became increasingly uncomfortable. In July, the longed-for invitation came in a phone call between the two politicians, although the subsequent messages about the conversation were strikingly different: The Israeli side explicitly claimed that Netanyahu had been invited to the White House, the American side explicitly denied this.
The deal can fail on many points
In fact, there will now be “only” one meeting on the sidelines of the UN summit in New York. An invitation to Washington could still follow if the conversation goes well. Both politicians have something to gain: Netanyahu is aiming for a photo opportunity in the Oval Office, while Biden is aiming for a foreign policy success in the coming election year. He is currently trying to craft a complicated deal involving the United States, Israel and Saudi Arabia, as well as indirectly the Palestinians.
Biden wants to broker a peace agreement between Jerusalem and Riyadh. The Saudi leadership has apparently made a number of demands, such as a mutual assistance pact with the United States or support for a civilian nuclear program. Israel has mixed feelings about the latter. But the main stumbling block is that Riyadh – according to the American emissaries – has demanded significant concessions from Israel towards the Palestinians. This certainly couldn’t be done with Netanyahu’s current coalition.
The deal can therefore fail on many points. In addition, Netanyahu will probably have to credibly assure the American president that he is – as Biden once put it – “taking his foot off the accelerator” on judicial reform. The issue will haunt the Israeli head of government in America anyway. A large demonstration by reform opponents is planned in New York this Tuesday, as well as on Wednesday during the meeting with Biden; some flew especially from Israel. Netanyahu also had something to say about this before he boarded the plane at Ben-Gurion Airport in Tel Aviv – also accompanied by protests. The protest “crossed all boundaries,” he claimed. Apparently the demonstrators now find it normal to “defame Israel before the nations of the world.” They would “join forces with the PLO and Iran.”
The latter statement provoked angry reactions in Israel and among Jewish groups in the United States. Opposition leader Benny Gantz said the protesters were “patriots who love the country.” Jair Lapid accused his successor Netanyahu of having done more damage to Israel’s image in recent months than anyone else.
The outrage even prompted Netanyahu’s office to send out a clarification: By “joining forces,” the prime minister meant the fact that Israeli citizens would demonstrate at the same time as supporters of the Palestinian PLO and the BDS boycott movement while representing Israel at the United Nations. Meanwhile, Finance Minister and settler activist Bezalel Smotrich flatly called the demonstrating opponents of the justice reform “BDS activists.”
“Interference in internal affairs”
Another bizarre incident showed how thin-skinned the government coalition is now on the issue. It concerned the German ambassador to Israel, Steffen Seibert. Israeli media reported at the weekend that Israel’s ambassador to Germany, Ron Prosor, had sent a complaint to the federal government on the orders of Foreign Minister Eli Cohen. The reason was that Seibert attended the historic hearing before the Supreme Court last Tuesday, which dealt with part of the judicial reform.
The former government spokesman published a short video from the audience on the X platform. In it he said in Hebrew, among other things, that something important for Israel’s democracy was happening here and that as a friend of Israel he had come to see it for himself. The Israeli government reportedly viewed this as “interference in internal affairs.”
However, the Foreign Office announced on Monday afternoon that no complaint had been received so far, neither officially nor unofficially. At the government press conference, a spokesman described Seibert’s visit to the hearing as “an excellent example of common diplomatic practice” that also exists in other countries. In Israel, with reference to the embassy in Germany, it was said that a high-ranking political official had spoken to Seibert and expressed the Israeli protest. Chancellor Olaf Scholz also commented on this in New York on Monday. “The German ambassador is a very committed man with very clear principles,” said Scholz. “I think everyone knows that too – even in Israel.”
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