First world leader to pledge to work with Bennett's government
Biden is satisfied with Netanyahu's departure without anticipating a revolution in US-Israel relations
Biden does not aspire to solve the whole problem, but rather to manage the crisis.
Reuters
Events in the occupied Palestinian territories do not leave room for a long period of calm, as America would like.
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Bennett (photo left) is not much different from his predecessor, Netanyahu.
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US President Joe Biden, as he rushed to congratulate the new Israeli Prime Minister, Naftali Bennett, showed satisfaction with the departure of Benjamin Netanyahu from power.
The difference is evident in Biden's dealings with both the former and current prime ministers.
On Sunday, Biden was the first world leader to pledge to work with the Bennett government, in a statement issued just half an hour after the Knesset granted confidence in his government coalition, and then during a phone call with him.
By contrast, when he arrived at the White House in January, the Democratic president made Netanyahu wait 28 days before making his first call.
This delay sparked controversy in Israel as well as in Washington, where some prominent Republicans viewed it as showing contempt for the prime minister of a key ally of the United States, especially after the rapprochement that prevailed under former President Donald Trump.
"The Biden government is hoping for a fresh start," Natan Sachs, of the Brookings Institution for Studies, said during a video conference.
He continued, "They do not like Netanyahu and believe that they can achieve this new start with Bennett," the right-wing nationalist who "presents himself as a businessman with innovative ideas, a man of solutions."
reckless adventure
Brian Katulis, from the Center for American Progress for Studies, which is considered left-wing, told AFP that political change in Israel could thus lead to "great stability in the bilateral relationship, especially in light of the mistrust that exists on a personal level with Netanyahu."
Netanyahu got everything he wished for from Donald Trump, who was keen to take into account the voters of the American religious right to recognize Jerusalem as the capital of Israel and put forward a peace plan biased towards the demands of the Jewish state, violating the international consensus on a two-state solution.
However, Democrats have grown increasingly dismissive of the former Israeli prime minister, who is increasingly right-wing, and did not accept Biden's support when the latest war between Israel and Hamas in the Gaza Strip erupted in May.
On Monday, the new centrist Israeli foreign minister, Yair Lapid, accused the Netanyahu government of taking a "reckless and dangerous adventure, focusing exclusively on the Republican Party, abandoning Israel's bipartisan approach."
However, this does not indicate a revolution in relations with the United States, especially in the thorny issue of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.
Bennett and Lapid's government is based on a broad coalition that includes parties from the right, left and center, as well as an Arab-Islamic party, which means that it will be difficult for it to agree on any step towards reviving the faltering peace process.
However, Michael Dunn, of the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, said Biden could hope that the new government team would pay "more attention to avoiding any action, whether in Jerusalem or elsewhere, that would inflame relations with the Palestinians."
"Conflict Management"
And she considered that the recent war between Israel and the Gaza Strip showed that Washington should work more on “managing the conflict,” but “neither the escalation nor the new government, it seems, convinced it that the time has come to take any initiative to seek to resolve it.”
This was also expressed by Brian Katulis, who said that the United States "does not seek a Nobel Prize", and will continue to be satisfied with "pragmatic" measures aimed in particular at improving the daily living conditions of the Palestinians.
"The Bennett-Lapid administration and the Biden administration want the same thing: to put this issue on the shelf for four years," said Natan Sachs, but cautioned that "it's not going to work that way, as we noted last month."
He added that even if Israel does not take major decisions on the level of annexing lands, or withdrawing from occupied lands, the "minor events" that would ignite the conflict again, remain many.
In another contentious issue between Israel and the United States, the Hebrew state is expected to maintain its strong rejection of the agreement on the Iranian nuclear program, and its opposition to Washington's intention to return to it after Trump exits it.
But Natan Sachs saw that the new government coalition might refrain, unlike Netanyahu, from engaging in a "political battle with Biden" in this regard.
• Even if Israel does not take major decisions at the level of annexing lands, or withdrawing from occupied lands, the "minor events", which would ignite the conflict again, remain many.
The new centrist Israeli foreign minister, Yair Lapid, on Monday accused the Netanyahu government of taking a "reckless and dangerous adventure by focusing exclusively on the Republican Party, abandoning Israel's bipartisan approach."
Netanyahu got everything he wished for from Donald Trump, who was keen to take into account the voters of the American religious right to recognize Jerusalem as the capital of Israel, and put forward a peace plan biased to the demands of the Hebrew state, violating the international consensus on a two-state solution.
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