Gantz: Netanyahu emphasis on Republicans causes Israel ‘strategic harm’
Gantz said the situation “cannot continue,” calling for more balance in Israel’s relations with the parties.
By LAHAV HARKOVAlternate Prime Minister and Defense Minister Benny Gantz(photo credit: MARC ISRAEL SELLEM)
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu damaged bipartisan ties between Israel and the US, Defense Minister Benny Gantz lamented in a podcast released on Tuesday.“The way [Netanyahu] disrupts this matter does strategic harm to Israel,” Gantz told Tal Shalev, host of Walla News’ Conversation of the Week podcast. “Netanyahu’s overreliance on a Republican administration without listening to the Democratic side is a mistake.”Gantz said the situation “cannot continue,” calling for more balance in Israel’s relations with the parties.“Now we’ll have a Democratic administration, great. We will be in contact with them and respect the others,” he added.Gantz recounted speaking at the AIPAC Policy Conference in early 2019: “I talked about the necessity of bipartisanism in our ties with the US, and that is something that cannot be taken lightly. It doesn’t matter if the president is a Republican or a Democrat. These are special relations that have to be protected.”Though Gantz and Shalev recorded the podcast on Monday, it was released hours after Netanyahu defended himself from similar accusations from opposition leader Yair Lapid, in an address to the Knesset.“I don’t stand for Republicans or Democrats. I stand only for the State of Israel, and that will continue with the next [American] government,” Netanyahu said.Netanyahu said that whenever he goes to Capitol Hill, he meets leaders of both parties, and he meets every senator and member of Congress that visits Israel, regardless of party or whatever else he has on his agenda at the time. He specified that he met with Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi and House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer four times each since 2017, and that he has known Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer for nearly 40 years. He met Vice President-elect Kamala Harris when she visited Israel in 2017.“I see a great importance in explaining Israel’s positions to both sides of the House,” he said. “But I don’t just explain Israel’s stances, I stand up for them.”
