Israelis begin to sour on Biden as US ratchets up pressure over Gaza

The joke making the rounds in Israel’s political circles goes something like this: Everybody knows Joe Biden’s top priority is the two-state solution – the two states being Michigan and Pennsylvania.

The play on President Biden’s insistence that a path to a Palestinian state figure in any “day after” planning following the Israel-Hamas war in Gaza hints at the chafing that some Israelis feel over growing U.S. pressure on its close Middle East ally.

But the joke’s punchline also suggests the mounting dismay over what some here see as Mr. Biden’s political motivations as he faces criticism on his left for his pro-Israel stance – and a daunting electoral map in his reelection bid.

“The U.S. is the best friend of Israel, but – we now see Biden is trying to do cheap politics on our backs,” says Hodaya, a Jerusalem resident sharing a sunny park bench with her father recently. “Real Americans love Israel because we share a love for freedom, democracy, and peace. Biden used to be like that,” she adds, “but now he changes because he wants to win again” in November elections.

As part of the Biden administration’s shifting posture toward Israel, it has increased its distance on the international stage, changing the consistent use of its veto in United Nations Security Council resolutions targeting Israel.

After last week sponsoring a resolution calling for an “immediate and sustained cease-fire” in Gaza that was vetoed by Russia and China, the United States abstained Monday, allowing a more toughly worded measure to pass. The new resolution did not condemn Hamas for the Oct. 7 attack against Israel, nor did it link the cease-fire to the release of Israeli hostages held in Gaza, both previous U.S. requirements.

In a statement explaining the U.S. abstention, Secretary of State Antony Blinken said that while the U.S. did not agree with all provisions in the text, it did consider the resolution “consistent with our principled position that any cease-fire text must be paired with text on the release of the hostages.”

Responding to the lack of a U.S. veto, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu canceled a trip to Washington by two of his top aides to participate in talks on alternative Gaza policies, in particular, alternatives to an assault on overcrowded Rafah.

Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant, who was already in the U.S., issued a statement before meetings with national security adviser Jake Sullivan and Mr. Blinken saying that Israel has “no moral right to stop the war in Gaza until we return all the hostages to their homes.”

Hodaya’s sentiments (she offered only her first name) may be unusually harsh, but they nevertheless underscore what is true here: Israelis’ love affair with Mr. Biden – sparked by his unquestioning support of Israel in the days following Hamas’ traumatizing attack – ain’t what it used to be.

There is still widespread appreciation for U.S. support, and that includes gratitude to President Biden for maintaining military and other assistance even as Israel has lost much of the world’s sympathies as the war in Gaza has dragged on.

But Israelis are keenly aware that the close bond between their country and the U.S. is fraying over a war that they in their large majority support. Many are quick to echo Mr. Netanyahu by insisting Israel is ready to “go it alone” to “finish the job in Gaza” if need be.

And there is a growing sentiment that the widening breach with the U.S. is not based on a legitimate critique of the war, but on U.S. domestic politics.

“We see Biden is changing when it comes to Israel, and what can we say? This is politics,” says Eli Avidan, a jeweler standing behind the glass case of his shop in downtown Jerusalem.

Mr. Avidan says he remembers warmly Mr. Biden coming to Israel just days after the Oct. 7 attack. But he also recalls hearing more recently the president describe Israel’s military operation as “over the top.”

“I feel the pro-human side of Biden is still with Israel,” he adds, “but we know there are lots of Arabs in America, and so for the politics he has to pay attention to them and take care of himself.”

Indeed, some observers of Israeli society say Mr. Biden remains generally well viewed, but they worry that hyperpartisan actors in both countries are responsible for dragging down relations.

“Most Israelis still appreciate the Biden administration,” says Yossi Klein Halevi, a senior fellow at the Shalom Hartman Institute in Jerusalem. “But we have a minority on the hard right that stupidly thinks we can go it alone, and then in the U.S. there are politicians on the left saying, ‘Make my day, Israel.’”

A roller-coaster dive in relations has been on display both in Israel and in Washington.

Mr. Blinken, on the last day of a Middle East swing Friday, told Mr. Netanyahu the U.S. does not support an anticipated Israeli assault on Rafah, the southern Gaza city where more than 1 million displaced Palestinians are sheltering.

Israel can achieve its goal of dismantling Hamas as a military and governing force – a goal the U.S. supports – without deepening Gaza’s already horrific humanitarian crisis, Mr. Blinken said.

To which Mr. Netanyahu said no, later telling journalists that the Rafah assault will happen.

Mr. Gallant said before his departure Sunday he was undertaking the trip to hear U.S. proposals “in order to preserve the special and important relationship for both our countries.”

More worrisome for some in Israel are the multiplying indications that bilateral relations are descending into bitter and damaging partisanship.

After Majority Leader Chuck Schumer took to the Senate floor this month to call on Israelis to “save Israel” by electing new leadership with a different “vision for the postwar future,” furious Republican senators responded by inviting Mr. Netanyahu to address them last week.

In a closed-door video conference call Wednesday with Republican senators, Mr. Netanyahu called Mr. Schumer’s comments both “inappropriate” and “outrageous,” several senators later said. Mr. Netanyahu had already said publicly that despite what Mr. Schumer seemed to think, Israel is no “banana republic” that takes orders from abroad.

Not to be outdone, House Speaker Mike Johnson said Thursday he intends to invite Mr. Netanyahu to address a joint session of Congress at some point after the two-week Easter recess.

And former President Donald Trump strayed beyond politics into religion, saying Mr. Schumer – the highest-ranking elected Jewish leader in the U.S. – was emblematic of a Democratic disdain for Israel. “Any Jewish person that votes for Democrats hates their religion,” Mr. Trump said in a radio interview last week, in remarks many found offensive.

Some in Israel are cautioning Mr. Netanyahu not to damage Israel’s relations with its closest friend and strongest supporter by playing into the partisan politics.

“Netanyahu, don’t go to Washington,” former Jerusalem Post editor David Brinn declared in a front-page commentary in the newspaper Friday. If the prime minister were to accept an invitation to address Congress in the current overheated atmosphere, he wrote, “Netanyahu will in essence surrender Israel’s bipartisan status and align himself with the narrow interests of conservative America.”