Israelis Expect Tough Message To Be Delivered to Iran During Biden Visit

It is no secret the US leader prefers Lapid over Netanyahu, professor says

US President Joe Biden is gearing up for his trip to the Middle East this week, with the first stop in Israel, where he will meet with caretaker Prime Minister Yair Lapid.

President Biden is also scheduled to meet with Opposition Leader and former Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu, who is eyeing a comeback in the election set for November 1.

Netanyahu is concerned that the visit by the American president may give Lapid a bump in the election.

Political analyst Mohammad Darawshe from the Givat Haviva national education center, east of Hadera, told The Media Line that the former Israeli premier was critical of the scheduled meeting between President Biden and Prime Minister Lapid.

“The Center-Right’s Binyamin Netanyahu will probably say to Biden, ‘Don’t interfere in Israeli politics.’ It provides a photo opportunity for Lapid as prime minister and actually raises his image and status in the eyes of many Israelis,” says Darawshe.

“There’s an undercurrent of feeling that Biden is interested in Lapid as prime minister and not Netanyahu not returning Netanyahu to office,” he adds.

Darawshe says Lapid is interested in discussing three main issues with President Biden.

First, Lapid wants “some kind of a diplomatic achievement” with Saudi Arabia that can present to the Israeli public, which has been an “Israeli strategic interest for many years,” he says.

Second and third, Darawshe adds, Lapid wants the US to keep the pressure on Iran and sign what Israel describes as a tough nuclear deal.

On Sunday, Lapid, addressing his second cabinet meeting since taking office on July 1, said he expects the visit “will focus first and foremost on the issue of Iran.”

Jonathan Rynhold, head of the Political Studies Department at Bar-Ilan University in Ramat Gan, near Tel Aviv, told The Media Line that Israelis expect two things from the US president’s visit.

“Symbolically they expect to see friendship, they expect to see warm words about Israel and about its legitimacy and the closeness [between the US and Israel] and about his personal feelings toward Israel.”

Another expectation is on the more practical policy level.

“The most important thing is what will you do if there’s no Iran deal and what will you do if there is? What Israelis want is a plan B. What happens if there’s no deal, what happens if the agreement is made and Iran becomes a nuclear threshold power? Would you stop from becoming a nuclear power,” says Rynhold.

David Galila, a Jerusalem resident in his 60s who works at his son’s shawarma restaurant, told The Media Line he wants President Biden to be tough on the Islamic Republic.

“I really hope that the president raises the Iranian problem, and that they won’t let Iran do things that could hurt the world’s security. Biden needs not to get to a situation like with Russia,” he says.

Rynhold said that with the coalition government having collapsed and an interim government in place, it would be rather difficult for President Biden and Prime Minister Lapid to announce any major news on the stalled negotiations between the Palestinians and Israelis.

“I don’t think the Palestinian issue is going to be important on this visit. I think the main issue is to keep it quiet, to prevent any eruption of violence on the Palestinian side or any settlement activity on the Israeli side. That could embarrass or disrupt the visit,” the professor says.

In a sign of growing flirtation with normalization between Israel and Saudi Arabia, President Biden will fly directly from Tel Aviv to Jeddah, Saudi Arabia on the last leg of his trip, a first for an American president.

Eytan Gilboa, professor of political science and an expert on US-Israel relations, told The Media Line there are several important issues on the agenda to be discussed during the visit.

“This is a critical visit due to many critical circumstances that exist right now in Israel and the Middle East. Israel has a new prime minister, the [nuclear] talks [in Vienna] with Iran are stalled, perhaps will be resumed soon, and the Sunni Arab countries are quite concerned about Iran and want to establish a new defense alliance in the region,” he says.

Gilboa adds that President Biden comes with a few messages to be delivered to the concerned parties.

“Message No. 1 is that despite statements and even activities in the last years, the United States doesn’t intend to leave the Middle East,” he says.

Gilboa adds that Israel’s internal political crisis also played a role in President Biden’s decision to visit during an election season.

“No. 2, it is no secret that Biden prefers Lapid over Netanyahu. Under normal circumstances, Biden wouldn’t have visited during an election campaign but these are not normal times.”

Israelis believe the success of the US president’s visit will depend on his ability to convince more Arab states to forge what was once an unlikely alliance with Israel in the face of Iran, and on what he can do to contain Tehran’s growing influence in the Middle East and curtail its nuclear capability.

Adds Gilboa, “The next message is for Iran: You have a final opportunity to come to the table and get a new nuclear deal. If not, the United States will not only support but even strengthen this defense alliance in the Middle East to include Israel, Gulf states, Jordan, Egypt, and Saudi Arabia.”

President Biden said he’d like to see some upgrade in Saudi relations with Israel, but the White House has been mum on the president’s plans.

“It could be allowing Israeli passenger jets to fly over Saudi airspace toward Asia, and possibly opening interest offices in both countries,” says Gilboa.

While everyone is talking about a possible breakthrough between Saudi Arabia and Israel, Darawshe believes the breakthrough will happen with Lebanon.

“What’s also evolving is the Lebanese file, specifically the debate over demarking the [maritime] borders of the gas fields. I think that’s what Biden will take with him as a real accomplishment. I think they will end up with some accomplishment on that front,” Darawshe says.