Members of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s inner circle are concerned that President-elect Joe Biden is filling his government with veterans of the Obama administration, some of whom have had difficult relations in the past, especially over Iran.
Why it matters: The Biden and Netanyahu governments are heading for an early clash over the Iran nuclear deal. Several of Netanyahu’s assistants to the Israeli National Security Council grumbled about the fact that Biden would be surrounded by ‘Obama people’, including the architects of the agreement and of his fiercest advocates.
What they say: Israel’s outgoing ambassador to Washington, Ron Dermer, told several interlocutors in Washington that he was concerned about the impact John Kerry and Susan Rice would have on Biden’s foreign policy, according to an Israeli official and a US official.
- Both Kerry and Rice will join the Biden government, but their new posts have little to do with Iran or Israel. Kerry will be Biden’s climate tsar, while Rice will head the Home Policy Council.
- As secretary of state, Kerry has had a very strained relationship with Netanyahu, mainly over the nuclear deal in Iran and the Palestinian issue.
- As a national security adviser, Rice Dermer considers himself essentially a Republican political worker and jokes that she did not meet with him because he was ‘too busy traveling to Sheldon Adelson’s events in Las Vegas’.
The whole picture: Relations between Barack Obama, Netanyahu and their respective staff were strained, especially in the second term of Obama. Biden’s incoming team looks a lot like that of Obama from that time.
- But while Netanyahu’s assistants are particularly concerned about the return of Rice and Kerry, they have had fewer complaints about incoming national security adviser Jake Sullivan and Biden’s choice to run the State Department, Tony Blinken.
- One Netanyahu’s adviser told me he’s less worried about Kerry and Rice than Biden’s expected choice of Wendy Sherman as deputy secretary of state. Sherman was the leading US negotiator on the Iran deal.
Send the news: Sullivan reiterated on CNN on Sunday that Biden plans to return to the deal if Iran complies again, and then he will try to negotiate a broader deal. But Netanyahu will not be Biden’s only headache if he tries to implement the policy.
- Iran announced on Monday that it had resumed production of 20% enriched uranium, and Tehran had also threatened to expel nuclear inspectors.
- A Netanyahu government minister, Tzachi Hanegbi, said on Tuesday that Israel should respond to the enrichment movement of Iran with a military strike on Iran’s nuclear facilities, ‘because the world is idle. ‘
- The other side: The Institute for Policy and Strategy, a think tank led by retired Israeli general Amos Gilead, issued a paper on Sunday calling for silent talks with Biden’s government on Iran over a public confrontation that is harmful to Israel. can be, to avoid.
What’s next: There has been no contact yet between the Israeli government and the new Biden government, and it is unclear who will handle Israel’s outreach to Biden over Iran. One name mentioned is the Mossad director, Yossi Cohen.
Note: A Biden transition official said Biden was “one of Israel’s strongest supporters” and that the Biden-Harris government “will not only strengthen the relationship between the US and Israel, but also ensure that it enjoys dual support. . Dermer declined to comment, as did Netanyahu’s office.
Go deeper: Biden’s nuclear deal dilemma