The US and Israel, an idyllic relationship

4 min read EUGENIO GARCIA GASCON

EUGENIO GARCIA GASCON

At the end of March, the Prime Minister of Israel, Benjamin Netanyahu, announced a moratorium on his initiative to carry out a far-reaching judicial reform, which the opposition sees as a threat to the separation of powers in democratic countries. However, the prime minister made it clear that his intention is not to back down on the controversial reform, but only to postpone his parliamentary journey for an imprecise but not too long period of time. The decision came after three months of massive street protests and Israel's close Western allies criticizing a plan that has so far led to strong political and economic tensions.

Immediately after the announcement, the White House and other Western leaders welcomed it. President Joe Biden welcomed that rectification, which Netanyahu called a "pause," arguing that democratic values are essential in relations between the two countries. Although Netanyahu insists that his ties with Biden have been excellent on a personal level for four decades, disagreements over reform had undermined relations with the US during the first hundred days of his rule, and the moves and omissions of both leaders they indicate that their relationship is not idyllic and that they do not always combine synergies.

Netanyahu made it clear without delay that Israel does not make its decisions based on external pressures, including those of its closest ally, but based on what its citizens decide. Naturally, Israel is the first country to pressure others to modify their policies, as is happening these days with Poland and the memory of the Holocaust or extermination ordered by the Nazi authorities in World War II.

One question to be determined is to what extent the Democratic administration will push Israel. It is no secret that Netanyahu and his ultra-nationalist and ultra-religious coalition prefer a Republican administration, and are confident that the Republican candidate, whoever he may be, will win in the November 2024 elections. Donald Trump's last term was the most pro-Israel in history and Netanyahu even named a new Jewish settlement in the Golan Heights occupied by Syria in the 1967 war with Trump's name. Under the current circumstances, Netanyahu will try to weather the storm Democrat in the hope that there will soon be a takeover in the White House.

There is one factor that is increasingly affecting the political attitude of ordinary Americans towards Israel. Joseph Lieberman, a former long-serving US senator and one of the Jewish state's main allies on Capitol Hill, acknowledged this week that what happens in Israel may change the attitudes of Americans, especially Democratic voters, more sensitive to justice and human rights. Historically, it has been the Democrats who have most staunchly supported Israel, but this situation is changing at a good pace and the circumstance is that it is now the Republicans who most support Israel, although it is precisely among the Republicans where there are more anti-Semites.

One wonders what will happen in the year and a half that remains before the presidential elections in the US, if Netanyahu will soon mend relations with Biden or if he will play the Republican card when it arrives and until then he will weather the storm as best he can. One reality is that since Biden entered the White House, there has been a growing lack of American interest in Middle East issues, a circumstance that China is taking advantage of, as seen in its mediation for Iran and Saudi Arabia to normalize relations after years of distancing.

The rapprochement between Tehran and Riyadh is very bad news for Israel. Israeli leaders, and especially Netanyahu throughout his long tenures, have always played that card to their advantage, presenting the Islamic Republic as an existential threat not only to countries but to the rulers of the Arabian Peninsula in particular. . However, for some time these Arab agents have been ignoring Netanyahu and showing a desire to resume relations with Iran, something that certainly worries Israel and for the moment has not made the US blink an eye.

It is not only bad for Israel that Washington moves away from the Middle East, but also that the Americans allow allies such as Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates or Egypt to move freely, something that questions Israeli hegemony. The apparent distance from Washington is even more uncertain if we consider that the institutional crisis that Israel is going through does not seem to be resolved while Netanyahu is in power.