Editorial Board
WSJ, July 18, 2023
“Israel is the least racist state in the Middle East and a stark contrast to the Palestinian Authority.”
On Friday these columns criticized President Biden for snubbing Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, declining in gratuitous public fashion to invite him to the White House. On Monday the President had a change of heart, calling Jerusalem and making plans to meet this year.
Will it be a White House meeting, with pomp and ceremony, or a quick 30 on the sidelines of the U.N.? It shouldn’t matter, except insofar as the Biden Administration seems to think it does, rebuffing Israeli requests. The logic isn’t hard to decipher: Mr. Netanyahu would like to reassure his voters that he has maintained strong U.S.-Israel relations, and Mr. Biden doesn’t want to let him.
The point is driven home by the treatment accorded this week to Isaac Herzog. A former Netanyahu opponent, Mr. Herzog is now in a nonpolitical role as Israel’s President. He met Mr. Biden at the White House Tuesday and addresses a joint session of Congress Wednesday. For him, the Biden Administration rolls out the red carpet it refuses Mr. Netanyahu.
The message to Israelis is that the U.S. is with you but not your government. It’s the kind of thing we tell Cubans and Iranians, or at least we used to. That the White House adopts the same approach with an allied democracy is a sign of the times in the Democratic Party.
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