The breaking news on Tuesday that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu had, at the last minute, ordered Defense Minister Yoav Gallant not to travel to the United States for meetings at the Pentagon with his counterpart, Lloyd Austin, was deeply troubling.
But it’s difficult to determine which is a more distressing reason for the abrupt cancellation: political games and one-upmanship in Israel’s government when all the focus should be solely on the business at hand of our multipronged war or a possible fracture in the relationship between the leadership in Israel and the US. Either way, it’s very bad.
The Gallant trip was expected to deal with Israel’s scope and substance of its likely retaliatory strike against Iran in response to last week’s Iranian missile attack on the Jewish state, the second one in six months. Like the previous one in April, the US took to the skies with four other armies – the United Kingdom, France, Israel, and Jordan – to defend Israel against Tehran’s ballistic missiles.
The US and President Joe Biden have made statements since then that they are against an Israeli attack on Iranian gas installations or its nuclear facilities out of fear that it would escalate into a wider conflict with global economic impact. The US has also said it was expecting a “proportional” response from Israel.
Bad blood
Biden did not speak to Netanyahu after Iran’s pre-Rosh Hashanah attack, and reportedly, the two haven’t spoken since August. The reason behind the disconnect is not a secret; it is a result of their distrust.
According to Bob Woodward’s new book, War, Biden called Netanyahu a “son of a bitch” and “a bad guy. He’s a bad f****** guy.”
Despite the bad blood, Netanyahu insisted on having a phone call with Biden before enabling Gallant’s visit, a source told The Jerusalem Post. Since the beginning of the war, the Americans have been communicating mostly through Gallant as their primary channel instead of dealing directly with the prime minister.
But whether they like each other or not, it’s imperative for the leaders of two ally countries to speak directly to each other, so there’s some justification for Netanyahu’s stipulation.
Other sources, however, indicated to the Post that Netanyahu had probably canceled the flight to prevent Gallant from getting any credit for solidifying a joint US-Israel strategy on Iran, a strategy that Netanyahu and Gallant have seen eye to eye on.
This comes as many in Israel, including Benny Gantz, Avigdor Liberman, and Naftali Bennett, are calling for a sharp response to Tehran’s attack, perhaps much sharper than the government is willing or able to take due to US pressure.
The stakes are higher than ever right now, and Israel’s security interests must be paramount to any perceived slights of honor or ego. Israel needs a unified front and a strong determination to do what’s right for the country.
The US and other allies of Israel have fought tooth and nail against decisions Israel has made throughout the war, including entering Rafah to root out Hamas terrorists and this month’s ground invasion of Lebanon to stop Hezbollah’s ability to launch missiles at Israel.
But aside from repeating the somewhat naive mantra of “diplomacy,” nobody has offered a viable alternative to those moves. And after 11 months of assault on the North, with any effort at diplomacy being rebuffed by Hezbollah, Israel was left with little choice.
Biden and Netanyahu bit the bullet and spoke to each other on Wednesday. Regardless of what was said or resolved, it’s vital for the future coordination of the two countries in their battle against those that would bring both countries down. And it’s imperative that the US and Israel continue their dialogue at the highest level – which means Gallant meeting with Austin.
Even if they disagree on tactics, Israel must make it clear to its strongest ally why it’s deciding to make the moves it deems necessary to defeat its enemies on its borders. And Israel and the US must be united in whatever strategy is adopted to combat Iran and its proxies. Preventing Gallant from flying to Washington doesn’t help achieve that goal.