Most stores in New York City have yet to put up their Christmas decorations – after all, it’s still only September – but when Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu visited last week, it was clear he had already found his own Santa Claus: the administration of U.S. President Joe Biden. Within the space of just one week, the administration gave him two huge gifts while receiving very little in return.
First there was Biden’s invite for a White House visit before the end of the year – which came mere days after Netanyahu flew all across America to meet with one of Biden’s most toxic critics: billionaire Elon Musk. For Netanyahu, Biden’s invitation was a lifesaver. It came three days into his U.S. trip, which until that point was a series of stumbling embarrassments. With one sentence, Biden changed everything for Netanyahu and gave him an important piece of legitimacy he was desperate for.
A week later came the announcement that Israel has been accepted into the U.S. Visa Waiver Program. Biden administration officials made a noticeable effort to give much of the credit for this development to the previous Israeli government, led by Naftali Bennett and Yair Lapid, which had initiated the visa waiver process and was indeed responsible for much of its progress. It was a sad and hopeless attempt.
Netanyahu had already called a prime-time press conference for Thursday evening, in which he will no doubt give himself all of the credit, attack any notion that the previous government had anything to do with it, and use the administration’s gift in a nakedly partisan way – as he knows best how to do.
The truth is simple, even if the Biden team doesn’t want to admit it: in just one week, it has revived Netanyahu’s failing far-right government, providing much needed oxygen to the Arab-hating, anti-LGBTQ ruling coalition that Biden just months ago described as the most extreme in Israel’s history.
The administration may have its reasons for doing all this – maybe it thinks it will help Biden get 72 percent of the Jewish vote in 2024, instead of the expected 71 percent – but the bottom line remains the same. After 10 months in which Biden kept his distance from the authoritarian prime minister, he has now become Netanyahu’s only hope for political redemption.
One question remains unanswered, though: Will the U.S. president get anything in return for all this, aside from Israel’s agreement to ease travel conditions for Palestinian Americans entering its borders as part of the visa waiver deal. Is Netanyahu actually going to deliver anything more than that, or is it really Christmas in September this time around?