US officials have been deliberating steps that the administration could take during the lame-duck period to curb the effort by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s government to expand Israel’s footprint in the West Bank, a current and a former senior US official told The Times of Israel this week.
The nearly three-month period from the November 5 presidential election to the January 20 inauguration will come with additional “political flexibility,” which will allow space for more confrontational policies vis-a-vis the Israeli government, said the current US official.
The list of steps US President Joe Biden could take would be longer if Vice President Kamala Harris wins the election since she is less likely to reverse them, a former senior US official explained. The official added that Harris would also be shielded from any political backlash of such moves due to them being seen as part of her predecessor’s legacy.
The former senior US official acknowledged that certain steps would be less likely taken if former president Donald Trump wins the election because he would be able to roll them back upon returning to office. However, some policies still might be implemented anyway because they would set a precedent that would give other Western countries the legitimacy to follow suit, as was the case with the sanctions that the Biden administration began implementing against extremist settlers in the West Bank. READ MORE