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Axios: US revising approach to "Israel" as Israelis distress

By Al Mayadeen English
Source: Axios
8 Dec 2022 11:10
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Israeli officials are lobbying for the White House not to rush into policy-setting toward the new Israeli government.

White House (AP)

Just one day after Europol scrapped intelligence cooperation with Israeli police, the White House is also currently holding a sensitive meeting looking into an updated approach towards the coming Israeli government.

Last week, according to Axios citing officials, the White House held a high-level meeting last week to discuss its new approach toward the new Israeli government as well as the possibility of not engaging in a number of the government's ultranationalist ministers.

This would mark the first meeting of its kind since the Israeli elections took place on November 1.

The new Israeli government will include aggressive far-right politicians such as Itamar Ben-Gvir and Bezalel Smotrich, whose violence and supremacy have been far more brazen and outright than others'.

According to the AUS Congressional Research Service, just after the Israeli elections, the ultranationalist Religious Zionism registered an increase in its presence, and is now incumbent PM Benjamin Netanyahu's partner, which essentially triggers a "debate about the implications for 'Israel's' democracy."

Those involved in the meeting last week included senior officials from relevant government agencies, in addition to the White House National Security Council "deputies committee," according to the US officials in the report.

Guidelines for engagement with the new government were discussed, but no decisions have been made. Tom Nides, the US ambassador to "Israel," may have hinted this week that the Biden administration may not engage directly with Smotrich or Ben-Gvir. In an interview on Monday, upon being asked several times whether Nides or Biden's administration would engage directly with Ben-Gvir and Smotrich, Nides answered by saying "We are going to work with Prime Minister Netanyahu."

Nides has been urging White House officials not to rush in their judgment and to take a more nuanced and careful approach toward the new Israeli government.

Mike Herzog, the Israeli ambassador to Washington, has also been lobbying the WH and State Department officials not to rush in policy-setting and not to take a 'hardliner' stance towards "Tel Aviv."

In a meeting with students in Washington last week, he said the new government "should not be defined by the more extreme edges of the body politic in 'Israel'."

Blinken: Policy over individuals

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken recently asserted that Washington will deal with the new Israeli government according to its policy and not according to individual personalities.

Core interests and demands regarding the ongoing occupation were also discussed, in addition to human rights and rule of law in the US' engagement with the new Israeli government. Blinken focused primarily on minority and LGBTQ rights in "Israel," slightly brushing upon settler violence against Palestinians in his speech.

The Secretary of State noted that the US opposes the undermining of the two-state solution and the annexation of the West Bank (despite its constant and unwavering financial and diplomatic support for "Israel" and its war crimes).

Blinken hailed US military aid to the Israeli occupation, adding that "it’s vital to preserving 'Israel’s' identity as a Jewish and democratic state. The United States continues to recognize Jerusalem as Israel’s capital."

Elsewhere, the US Secretary of State rejected the anti-Israel Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) movement and efforts to single out the Israeli occupation at the United Nations.