WASHINGTON – As Prime Minister Naftali Bennett lands in Washington for his first-ever meeting with US President Joe Biden in their new roles, former vice president Mike Pence has some advice for the new Israeli leader: despite deep Israeli concerns with the White House over how to handle major threats in the Middle East, remember that there is strong bipartisan support for Israel, and do your best to strengthen that support. You’ll need it in the months and years and crises ahead.
Pence was candid – indeed, blunt – in his criticism of how Biden is handling Iran and Afghanistan. But he was bullish on Bennett, and expressed genuine optimism that the prime minister will be able to successfully navigate Israel’s serious and significant policy differences with Biden and his team.
• AFGHANISTAN
“The disastrous withdrawal of American forces from Afghanistan by the Biden administration has been a disgrace,” he said. “It dishonors the service and sacrifice of every American who bravely served over the last 20 years defending freedom in Afghanistan – and it didn’t have to happen, despite what President Biden continues to repeat. It didn’t have to happen.”
Asked the difference between the Trump-Pence administration’s approach and Biden’s, Pence replied: “The main difference, I believe, is the credible threat of force. When our administration negotiated in February of 2020 the peace agreement with the Taliban, there were clear criteria and conditions that had to be met. But we also negotiated that agreement just weeks after American forces took out Iranian General Qasem Soleimani, and after we took down the ISIS caliphate, and took out ISIS leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi.”
Pence noted that “when the president spoke to [Taliban leader] Mullah [Abdul Ghani] Baradar on the telephone in the Oval Office, he conveyed to him that we all want peace. We want an end to all violence and war in Afghanistan. But if they didn’t keep the deal, the response would be swift and severe.
“I’m confident that they knew he meant it. I think Assad in Syria learned the hard way that President Trump meant what he said. So did Baghdadi. So did the Iranians. So, I think what is absent [from the Biden approach] is the credible threat of the use of force.”
• IRAN
“I think the recent attack on an Israeli ship tells you everything you need to know about Iran’s posture today,” he said. “President Biden has announced that we’ve re-entered negotiations for the Iran nuclear deal,” even though “we see Iran returning to its malign behavior in the region.”
That, Pence believes, is a very serious mistake.
“Weakness arouses evil,” he said.
He was especially incredulous that Biden had invited Iran back to the negotiating table at a time when it just elected as president Ebrahim Raisi, who was under US sanctions for the murder of upward of 30,000 Iranians before he entered office.
• NAFTALI BENNETT
Pence began with praise for Bennett’s predecessor.
“I will always be grateful for the leadership of former Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu,” he said. “I thought he led Israel with courage and distinction. And we’re truly grateful – truly grateful – for the way that the US-Israel relationship was strengthened in historic ways during our administration and under his leadership.”
That said, Pence had high praise for Bennett.
“I have met Prime Minister Naftali Bennett,” he said. “I met him when I was a member of Congress and he was a member of the cabinet. We had a very good conversation. He’s obviously immensely talented. And while he leads a coalition government, I know him to be a clear-eyed conservative.”
Pence emphasized the importance of Bennett recognizing, building upon, and strengthening – deepening – the strong bipartisan support for Israel in Washington, and across the American people, that has been strained in recent years.
“I would just hope he comes to the United States knowing that the support for Israel is broad and bipartisan,” Pence said. “It spans the entire nation – and whatever the internal and domestic politics are in Israel, Bennett and the coalition government he leads can be confident that yesterday, today and always America stands with Israel.”
The writer is the founder and editor-in-chief of ALL ISRAEL NEWS (www.allisrael.com). He is also a New York Times best-selling author with five million copies in print. His new non-fiction book, Enemies and Allies: An Unforgettable Journey Inside the Fast-Moving & Immensely Turbulent Modern Middle East, releases on September 7.