Members of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s inner circle are worried that President-elect Joe Biden is filling his administration with Obama administration veterans, some of whom have had difficult relations in the past, especially over Iran.
Why does it matter: The Biden and Netanyahu administrations are on the verge of an early conflict over the nuclear deal with Iran. Some of Netanyahu’s aides to the Israeli National Security Council are grumbling that Biden will be surrounded by “Obama people” – including the architects of the agreement and some of his fiercest lawyers.
What I say: Israel’s ambassador to Washington, Ron Dermer, told several in Washington that he was concerned about the influence John Kerry and Susan Rice would have on Biden’s foreign policy, according to an Israeli and an American official.
- Both Kerry and Rice will join the Biden administration, but their new posts have little to do with Iran or Israel. Kerry will be Biden’s climate tsar, while Rice will chair the Home Affairs Council.
- As Secretary of State, Kerry had a very strained relationship with Netanyahu, mainly in connection with the Iranian nuclear deal and the Palestinian issue.
- As a national security adviser, Rice viewed Dermer as essentially a Republican political agent and once joked that he had not met with him because he was “too busy traveling to the events of Sheldon Adelson in Las Vegas.”
The whole picture: Relations between Barack Obama, Netanyahu and their staff have been strained, especially in Obama’s second term. Biden’s receiving team is very similar to Obama’s at the time.
- But while Netanyahu’s aides are particularly worried about Rice and Kerry’s return, they have had fewer complaints about receiving National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan and Biden’s choice to head State Department Tony Blinken.
- A Netanyahu adviser told me he was less worried about Kerry and Rice than Biden’s choice of Wendy Sherman as deputy secretary of state. Sherman was the main American negotiator for the agreement with Iran.
News management: Sullivan reiterated on CNN on Sunday that Biden intends to return to the agreement if Iran returns to compliance and will then seek to negotiate a broader agreement. But Netanyahu will not be Biden’s only headache as he tries to bring this policy to an end.
- Iran announced on Monday that it had resumed production of 20% enriched uranium, and that Tehran had also threatened to expel nuclear inspectors.
- A Netanyahu government minister, Tzachi Hanegbi, said on Tuesday that Israel should respond to Iran’s enrichment movement with a military strike over Iran’s nuclear facilities, “because the world is in arms.”
- The other side: The Institute for Policy and Strategy, a think tank led by retreating Israeli General Amos Gilead, launched a paper on Sunday calling for a peaceful dialogue with the Biden administration on Iran to avoid a public confrontation that could be detrimental to Iran. Israel.
What’s next: There has been no contact between the Israeli government and the new Biden administration, and it is unclear who will deal with Israel’s expansion to Biden over Iran. One name mentioned is Mossad director Yossi Cohen.
Not worth anything: A transitional Biden official said Biden was “one of Israel’s strongest supporters” and that the Biden-Harris administration “will not only further strengthen the US-Israel relationship, but will also ensure that it enjoys bipartisan support ”. Dermer declined to comment on the story, as did Netanyahu’s office.
Go deeper: The dilemma of Biden’s nuclear deal