Biden Meddles in Israeli Politics He lectures Prime Minister Netanyahu on judicial reform while staying silent on Iran’s nuclear program.
President Biden likes to say he’s rebuilding American alliances, but he sure is selective about it. Woe betide the ally who runs afoul of American progressive opinion. Then Mr. Biden gives you the frenemy treatment.
That’s certainly how he’s treating the Israeli government as that country debates judicial reform, especially with his disdainful criticism of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
On Monday the Israeli leader announced a pause in pushing the controversial reform, saying he’d seek a national “consensus” on the subject. But Mr. Biden still chose to lecture the foreign leader about the matter.
“Like many strong supporters of Israel, I’m very concerned. And I’m concerned that they get this straight. They cannot continue down this road. And I’ve sort of made that clear,” Mr. Biden told reporters. “Hopefully the Prime Minister will act in a way that he is going to try to work out some genuine compromise. But that remains to be seen.”
So much for giving Mr. Netanyahu credit for reaching out to the opposition to seek a compromise. Mr. Biden also took a gratuitous shot at the Prime Minister by saying the Israeli leader wouldn’t be invited to the White House—“not in the near term.”
Mr. Biden had to know how that would play in Israel, where the public pays great attention to the words of an American President. Asked at the same event if he is “interfering” in domestic Israeli politics, Mr. Biden said, “We’re not interfering. They know my position. They know America’s position. They know the American Jewish position.”
What American Jewish position is that? As far as we can tell, American Jews are as divided as Israelis on the judicial reform. As for not interfering, Mr. Biden also said Tuesday, referring to the judicial reform and Mr. Netanyahu, that “I hope he walks away from it.” Mr. Biden can’t even seem to get his advice to the Prime Minister straight: compromise on it or abandon reform entirely?
Perhaps we’re expecting too much of an American President famous for his stumbles and incoherence. But Mr. Biden doesn’t have to meddle in Israeli domestic politics. He’s picking up the refrain from the American left that Mr. Netanyahu’s elected government is somehow a threat to Israeli democracy. But if we’ve learned anything in recent weeks, it’s that Israeli democracy is alive and well.
Mr. Biden’s intervention makes us wonder if his real goal is to stir more trouble for Mr. Netanyahu so his coalition falls. He may worry that the Prime Minister is increasingly focused on Iran’s progress toward becoming a nuclear power. And Iran is getting closer as it enriches uranium to ever higher levels, refuses to allow U.N. inspectors to look at suspect sites, and ignores international warnings.
But Mr. Biden has been mute about Iran’s nuclear progress—perhaps because it underscores the failure of his two-year effort to cajole Iran to redo the 2015 nuclear accord. His diplomacy has achieved nothing except give Iran more time to develop a bomb and forge tighter economic and security alliances with China and Russia.
Mr. Biden has already alienated our friends the Saudis, who are busy hedging their American bets by getting closer to the Chinese. The President also isn’t helping Israel, or U.S. security interests, by further roiling the domestic politics of America’s best remaining friend in the Middle East.
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