Biden walks tightrope as Israel’s democracy tested

WASHINGTON — In 2014, then-Vice President Joe Biden recalled once signing a photo for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu with the inscription: “Bibi, I don’t agree with a damn thing you say but I love you.”

Nearly a decade later, the limits of that love-hate relationship are being tested.

As Netanyahu plows ahead with a controversial effort to weaken the country’s judiciary, Biden is left to balance his support for Israel with his disdain for the most right-wing government in its history.

On Monday, Israel’s parliament gave its final approval to the first part of Netanyahu’s planned judicial overhaul, passing a measure that would prevent the Supreme Court from striking down government decisions and appointments deemed "unreasonable."

The vote sparked massive street demonstrations and calls for legal action, as Rina Bassist reports. Ben Caspit writes of the potential toll on Israel’s military after thousands of reservists threatened to quit in protest.

The Biden administration had issued repeated warnings to Israel over the judicial shakeup it said would undermine the two countries' shared set of democratic values. While it refrained from directly criticizing Netanyahu’s government, the White House called the 64-0 vote in the Knesset “unfortunate” and noted it passed with the “slimmest possible majority.”

The Biden administration, which has pledged to defend democracy at home and abroad, has struggled to craft a response to what some view as creeping authoritarianism in Israel. It snubbed Netanyahu for months before offering him an in-person meeting invitation, however vague, last week.

Some progressive Democrats say it’s time to move beyond mere statements of disapproval and diplomatic isolation. Left-leaning advocacy group J Street said in a statement Monday that “business as usual from Congress and the White House is a recipe for terrible failure.”

Biden has some leverage at his disposal. The United States could warn Israel it won't come to its defense in international forums like the United Nations, or review its military aid to ensure it complies with human rights standards. Outright cutting that assistance, however, is a non-starter, State Department spokesperson Vedant Patel said Tuesday.

With his reelection campaign on the horizon, analysts say Biden is unlikely to seek out a politically costly fight with Netanyahu. Already some presidential hopefuls, including former Vice President Mike Pence and Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, are trying to cast Biden as not supportive of Israel. 

Few expect Biden will impose practical consequences on Israel, least of all the Palestinians, who’ve been disappointed by the administration’s failure to reverse Trump-era decisions, including shuttering the de facto Palestinian embassy in Jerusalem.

Daoud Kuttab writes that Israel’s pro-democracy protests have largely ignored the Palestinians’ plight: “A very tiny minority of demonstrators actually made the connection between the calls for democracy and justice on the one hand and the continuation of occupation and injustice on the other.”

Last year was the deadliest on record for the Palestinians in nearly two decades. But the Biden administration reserved most of its criticism for Netanyahu’s judicial revamp rather than his government’s treatment of the Palestinians, said Matt Duss, a visiting scholar at the Carnegie Endowment and former foreign policy adviser to Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders. 

“Even with the mild criticism we've seen around the judiciary, it's always accompanied with statements of ‘our commitment to Israel is ironclad, it is sacrosanct.’” Duss said. “Which is to say, ‘we don't want you to do this, but there are never going to be any consequences.’”

“In the absence of consequences, why should the Israeli government make any different decision?” Duss said.

This is an excerpt from Al-Monitor's weekly newsletter, The Takeaway. 

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