Bibi looks to Beijing for leverage against Biden

Illustration: Sivan Schwam

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You could say that the Great Wall of China lies between Israeli prime minister Binyamin Netanyahu and President Joe Biden. A mere year after Biden visited Israel and warmly embraced then opposition leader Netanyahu, whispering, “You know I love you,” the relationship between the Israeli prime minister and the American president is at an unprecedented impasse.

For Netanyahu, the Biden administration is inseparable from the Israeli deep state, which has made his removal from power by any means necessary — legal, economic, or political — its supreme goal. He won’t say it publicly like some of the more incendiary ministers in his government, but that’s what’s in his thoughts, to judge by the impression of senior coalition figures who have sat through closed-door meetings with him of late.

Every week, the Biden administration takes the public humiliation a step further. Ten days ago, Israel’s Defense Minister Yoav Gallant, who earned the administration’s respect for singlehandedly killing the judicial reform, had to meet US defense secretary Lloyd Austin in Brussels, capital of Belgium and the EU. While the initial invitation to Washington would have allowed Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Mark Milley to participate as well, Gallant had to recalibrate after Bibi forbade government ministers from flying to the US capital.

The humiliating fact that he has yet to receive an invitation to the White House half a year after returning to power led Netanyahu to take the unprecedented step of banning his ministers from flying to Washington, D.C., for as long as he’s denied an invitation to meet the president in the Oval Office.

The Biden administration, for its part, is rigidly compartmentalizing. On the one hand, security cooperation between the Israeli and American militaries has continued, if not increased recently. At the same time, Netanyahu personally, as the head of the most extreme government in Israel’s history and the one who let the judicial reform genie out of the bottle, is a persona non grata in the American capital.

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In view of Netanyahu’s no-fly zone, Israeli security officials have found themselves acting practically independently in cooperating with their American counterparts. The situation calls to mind the days when the Israeli and Turkish military carried on a mutually beneficial anti-terrorism cooperation even as the two nations’ political echelons feuded bitterly.

On both the Israeli and American sides, security officials have been forced to find flight routes that stay clear of the American capital. The chairman of the joint chiefs of staff, General Mark Milley, was supposed to visit Israel last week, a visit delayed by the dramatic developments in Russia; but anyone who listened to his Israeli counterpart, chief of staff Herzi Halevi, could pick up on a nuance that distinguished the Israeli chief of staff from the Israeli prime minister.

Netanyahu and the chief of staff both spoke at an officers’ course graduation ceremony, at which some family members turned their backs on Netanyahu in protest.

But there were subtle differences between the two men’s speeches. Netanyahu came out against some IDF officers’ anti-judicial reform activism, and the threats of not showing up for reserve duty heard from former top defense officials associated with the political left. But the chief of staff chose a completely different theme, speaking of fighters’ duty to keep Jewish terrorism at bay in Judea and Samaria.

The two speeches reflected the stark divide in Israeli society. Netanyahu represented the right, while the chief of staff appeared more sympathetic to the left, and to outgoing US ambassador to Israel Tom Nides’s warnings against settler violence.

Bibi is watching developments with desperation. And as if to pour salt on his wounds, the administration is preparing for a state visit by Israeli president Isaac Herzog next month.

If there’s one thing Netanyahu can’t afford to lose, as he battles his enemies on every front, including the legal one, it’s his image as a strong leader whom no one can humiliate. And humiliation is exactly what the Biden administration is inflicting on him, on a daily if not hourly basis.

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Over the past two weeks, all Netanyahu’s attention has been focused on the English coast city of Brighton, where his old friend Arnon Milchan, a famous Hollywood producer, has been testifying remotely in Netanyahu’s trial.

During his testimony, Milchan revealed the code words they used to maintain the supply line of champagne, cigars, and other gifts from Milchan to the Netanyahu household. Champagne was called “roses,” Cuban cigars “leaves,” and luxury Brioni shirts “dwarves.”

One could say of Bibi that he’s always felt like Gulliver among the Lilliputians, the only Israeli politician who can hold his own on the international stage. The fact that it’s the administration led by his friend of 40 years that has set out to systematically diminish him is driving him out of his mind.

Netanyahu feels that for his part, he’s made every step possible toward the American president. He effectively let go of the judicial reform, as could be seen in a weekend interview with the Wall Street Journal in which he let the president — as well as his coalition allies — know that he’s scrapping the override clause, designed to enable the Knesset to override detrimental high court rulings.

And the fact that Biden continues to keep him at arm’s length despite all his sacrifices vis-à-vis coalition stability is a scandal, in Netanyahu’s view.

The response came a few days ago, when Netanyahu’s office announced his upcoming visit to China.

Netanyahu knows that China is a red flag for the American administration, and possibly the only subject on which Republicans and Democrats can show wall-to-wall consensus.

Until now, Israel seemed to get the memo and avoided the crossfire between Washington and Beijing. The lesson was learned in 2000, when Israel had to cancel a lucrative deal to sell the Phalcon radar system to China under massive pressure from the United States administration. The fallout from the event made every Israeli prime minister think twice before boarding a plane to Beijing.

Now, Bibi’s planned trip to China, and the timing of the announcement — shortly after it was announced that President Herzog would be hosted in the White House next month — were intended to send a message to Washington.

Bibi is following the Saudi model for returning to America’s good graces. When Biden took office, he boycotted Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, viewing him as a monster in light of the killing of American journalist Kamal Khashoggi inside the Saudi embassy in Turkey.

But through a series of maneuvers, including flirting with China, Russia and other US foes, while carefully managing oil prices, the Saudi crown prince managed to turn the tables and get the American president to court him.

Netanyahu doesn’t have MBS’s maneuvering room, but on a much smaller scale, the announcement of his planned visit to China is a clear signal to the American administration that they too have something to lose if Netanyahu’s status as a persona non grata persists.

In conclusion, one could say that for Bibi, the road to Beijing runs through Washington.

(Originally featured in Mishpacha, Issue 968)