The warm and submissive welcome Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu afforded US National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan last week has passed in complete silence. This is the same Netanyahu who slammed the previous two governments on the grounds that it would not fight against the US intention to re-enter the nuclear agreement with Iran. This time around, as prime minister, he chose not sound a single note of criticism against the senior US official, not about Iran nor on other issues regarding President Joe Biden's policies.
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One day before their meeting, it was reported that a senior US official met with Iran's ambassador to the UN, but Netanyahu showed no signs of alarm. "We see you as a trusted partner in matters of assuring security and, of course, advancing peace," Netanyahu said at his joint appearance with Sullivan, repeating various iterations of the verb "cooperation" again, and again, and again.
This is the politician who accused then-Prime Minister Naftali Bennett and then-Prime Minister Yair Lapid of "bowing down" and demanded that they "come out fiercely" against the nuclear deal. And no, nothing serious has changed since then. The nuclear deal is no less realistic today than it was only two or three months ago. Actually, only two weeks ago, Netanyahu himself said at the first meeting of his new government, that "the nuclear deal is not dead." And now he is keeping silent, continuously praising the Biden administration.
The issue of Iran is not the only example in which Netanyahu has fallen in line with the Americans. In recent days, he uprooted a new outpost in Judea and Samaria, delayed the construction of a new neighborhood in Jerusalem, and prevented a technical redrawing of municipal boundaries for two old communities in the Binyamin Regional Council. And we are only in the third week of the new government's term.
There is nothing wrong with maintaining a good relationship with the US. On the contrary, especially at a time when the new government is planning on taking steps to provoke international criticism, it is necessary to choose our battles with Washington. By demonstrating his promise to the Americans in this set of measures, Netanyahu is showing that he is at the helm, which will contribute to Biden and his administration's trust in him.
And still, if anyone still cares about the supposedly insignificant value called truth, here it is: Netanyahu toppled the previous government through a campaign based on lies. Bennett was not a leftist; Lapid and then-Defense Minister Benny Gantz did not remain silent in the face of the nuclear agreement. Even though these are the facts, Netanyahu managed to create the opposite impression among the right-wing electorate. But from the moment he won the election – not for the first time, and not unlike his predecessors – he is pursuing exactly the same policy that he attacked.
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