Netanyahu visits DC amid US political turmoil at critical juncture of Gaza war

washington — Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu arrived in Washington late Monday, the day after President Joe Biden announced he is withdrawing from the U.S. presidential race – a decision that adds another layer of uncertainty to U.S.-Israel relations at a crucial moment in the Gaza war. 

Without a cease-fire agreement in place, many had questioned the timing of Netanyahu’s visit when it was announced in June. Now, facing a potential shift in American politics, the Israeli leader aims to lay the groundwork for the next American administration.

A U.S. official said Biden and Netanyahu were expected to meet Thursday at the White House.

“I will seek to anchor the bipartisan support that is so important for Israel,” Netanyahu said as he departed Israel. “I will tell my friends on both sides of the aisle that regardless of who the American people choose as their next president, Israel remains America's indispensable and strong ally in the Middle East.”

While publicly Netanyahu aims for the appearance of neutrality in the now likely match between potential Democratic presidential nominee Vice President Kamala Harris and Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump, there is little doubt whom Netanyahu is rooting for, said Jonathan Rynhold, head of the Department of Political Studies at Israel’s Bar-Ilan University.

“Republicans in general are more supportive of Israel's security agenda,” he told VOA. “They're more forgiving of Israel's right-wing government and its policies towards the Palestinians.”

That's especially true of Trump, whose administration’s pro-Israeli policies were “quite extraordinary” and “created a sugar high” for the country, said Aaron David Miller, a former U.S. negotiator for the Middle East who is now a senior fellow at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace.

Trump brokered the Abraham Accords that normalized Israel’s diplomatic ties with some of its Arab neighbors – the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain and Morocco. Trump also moved the U.S. Embassy from Tel Aviv to contested Jerusalem and recognized Israeli annexation of the Golan Heights.

While in the U.S., Netanyahu is requesting to meet with Trump, in part to dismiss claims that there are tensions between him and the former president, said Nimrod Goren, senior fellow for Israeli affairs at the Middle East Institute.

Trump soured on Netanyahu when the prime minister congratulated Biden on his win in 2020. The former president has also warned Israel to “get back to peace and stop killing people.”

The Trump campaign has not responded to VOA for confirmation on Netanyahu’s request for a meeting.

Netanyahu meeting Harris

Harris will meet with Netanyahu this week at the White House, separate from the prime minister’s planned meeting with Biden, her aide told VOA. “Throughout her career, the vice president has had an unwavering commitment to the security of Israel,” the aide said.

Harris also has strong ties to the country’s Jewish community. Her husband, second gentleman Doug Emhoff, is Jewish and has played a key role in the administration’s efforts to combat antisemitism.

However, instead of presiding over the Senate chamber during Netanyahu’s speech to Congress on Wednesday, Harris will travel to Indianapolis, Indiana, to speak in front of the historically Black sorority Zeta Phi Beta.

The optics of applauding Netanyahu would not fly well amid anger over Gaza from progressives, Arab Americans and American Muslims who traditionally vote for Democratic candidates. Dozens of congressional Democrats in Congress are also expected to boycott the speech.

Gestures aside, a Harris presidency would unlikely yield a significant change in Middle East policy, Carnegie’s Miller told VOA, and would remain relatively “mainstream when it comes to supporting the U.S.-Israeli relationship.”

But Harris would be “far tougher, certainly rhetorically, on Israeli settlement activity, and much more, much more sympathetic to Palestinian suffering and Palestinian rights,” he said.

Harris’ comments in office have been largely in line with Biden on key foreign policy issues and it’s unclear whether she’ll manifest her own doctrine if elected.

Compared to Biden, who has an extraordinarily clear, integrated and well-thought-out American grand strategy, “she's a blank slate, really, on a foreign policy,” Rynhold said.

Netanyahu’s domestic goals

With the Israeli Knesset nearing a three-month recess, Netanyahu is aiming to advance his own domestic political goals, and a cease-fire deal could be the silver lining, Goren said.

“There may be a political timing that will enable Netanyahu to make a move once the Knesset is in recess, without having that lead to immediate coalition breakdown,” he said. “That could not be done until the Knesset comes back to operation."

U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said Friday that a deal was within reach.

However, Goren and other analysts said they were skeptical the cease-fire deal would extend beyond phase one: a six-week pause in fighting in exchange for some of the hostages held by Hamas.

Kim Lewis contributed to this report.