Benjamin Netanyahu’s visit to Washington on Tuesday and Wednesday promised to be tense. It will be even more complicated for the Israeli Prime Minister since the announcement on Sunday that US President Joe Biden is withdrawing from the presidential race. The two leaders do not appreciate each other. In recent months, the Biden administration has increased its criticism of the Israeli government over its handling of the war in Gaza, which has killed more than 39,000 Palestinians, according to the latest count from Hamas’s Health Ministry. It has demanded in vain that Palestinian civilians be protected and that humanitarian aid be delivered in sufficient quantities. It is also openly concerned about the lack of a post-war strategy.
But since Sunday, Netanyahu has had to deal with an additional uncertainty: who will replace Biden as the Democratic presidential candidate? Just before his departure for the United States on Monday, he was cautious. “I will say to my friends on both sides that no matter who the American people choose as their next president, Israel remains America’s strong and indispensable ally in the Middle East,” did he declare.
The meeting with Joe Biden at the White House is expected to take place on Tuesday, and not Monday as planned, as the American president recovers from Covid. Netanyahu is also expected to meet with Vice President Kamala Harris, a candidate for the Democratic nomination. It was unclear on Monday whether he would meet Donald Trump. If such a meeting were to take place, he would be accused by his detractors of siding with the Republicans, who claim for their part to be the only real supporters of Israel in the face of timid Democrats. A lack of meeting could, conversely, irritate Trump.
Boycott of his intervention
Netanyahu is finally due to deliver a speech to Congress on Wednesday, his fourth, a record for a foreign leader, and the first since 2015, when he attacked the Obama administration’s Iran nuclear deal. This time, he is expected to spare the regime in place, which continues to supply him with weapons and remains his main ally.
But there are far from only supporters. According to the Axios website, a hundred elected Democrats could boycott his intervention to show their rejection of the way the war in Gaza has been conducted since October 7 and the attacks by Hamas. In March, their leader in the Senate, Chuck Schumer, himself Jewish, had called for the organization of elections in Israel and described Netanyahu “obstacle to peace”. “A coalition led by him no longer meets Israel’s needs after October 7he said in a speech before the Senate. I think Prime Minister Netanyahu has lost his way, putting his political survival ahead of Israel’s best interests.”
The Biden administration should therefore push the Israeli leader to sign a ceasefire agreement in exchange for the release of the hostages still held in Gaza. Of the 251 people kidnapped on October 7, 116 are still in the enclave, 42 of whom are believed to have died, according to Israeli authorities.
Resumption of discussions
Talks, mediated by the United States, Egypt and Qatar, resumed in early July. According to US Foreign Minister Antony Blinken, Israel and Hamas have accepted the framework agreement presented by Joe Biden and are moving closer to “the finish line”. «What will be important when we have it (a ceasefire)it will be to ensure that there is a clear plan for the future, he said on Friday. What we don’t want is an agreement followed by some kind of void. (which will eventually be filled) either by a return of Hamas, which is unacceptable, or by the prolongation of the occupation by Israel, which (…) is unacceptable.”
Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant said that “the conditions have been created” and that’“a time-limited opportunity presents itself to establish a framework for the release of the hostages.” On Sunday, Netanyahu announced that a delegation would be sent Thursday to continue negotiations, without specifying where. In recent weeks, the talks have alternated between Cairo, Egypt, and Doha, Qatar.
Pressure is also being exerted by the families of the hostages. For several days, they have been demanding the signing of an agreement before Netanyahu’s visit to Washington. Several of them accuse him of refusing such a deal to avoid losing the support of extremist groups, which would cause the fall of his government and the holding of new elections in which the polls show him losing. In a speech Wednesday before the Knesset, Netanyahu said he was in favor of increasing military pressure on Hamas to force it to accept more concessions during the negotiations.
On Monday, as he was flying to Washington, the Israeli army ordered some residents of Khan Younis, in the southern Gaza Strip, to evacuate before “an intensive operation.”
Source: www.liberation.fr
