Just days into its mandate, a far-right member of Netanyahu’s hard-right cabinet riled US diplomats as well as Israel’s regional allies with a visit to a Jerusalem holy site that some believe may be a harbinger of other contentious moves, including vast expansions of Jewish settlement construction in the West Bank.
And, Netanyahu’s government adopted punitive measures against the Palestinians that run in direct opposition to several recent Biden moves to boost US-Palestinian relations, including restoring assistance to the Palestinian Authority that had been cut during the Trump administration and allowing Palestinian officials to visit the United States.
The new government is an unwelcome complication for a Biden national security team seeking to shift attention away from the Middle East and toward rivals like China and Russia. It also comes as Republicans take control of the House of Representatives and are eager to cast Biden as unfriendly to Israel ahead of the 2024 presidential election.
Bracing for more turmoil, Biden is dispatching his national security adviser to Israel in mid-January in a bid to forestall potentially deepening rifts between his administration and its top Mideast partner. That visit by Jake Sullivan may be followed by other high-level trips to Israel, including one by US Secretary of State Antony Blinken, according to administration officials. READ MORE
