There is precedent for a departing US administration shoving Israel under the bus in its waning days

Photo: AP Images

IT’S

getting too late for the Biden-Harris administration to pull off a November surprise to influence the presidential election.

By this time next week, we should know who won, but whether Kamala Harris becomes the 47th president or waddles into lame-duck status, the Biden administration will remain in power for another 76 days, giving them enough time to complicate life for Israel if they so desire.

For weeks, Israeli media and political circles have been abuzz with growing speculation that if Harris loses, the Biden administration will take out their frustrations on the Netanyahu government and punish it for its “disobedience” — or, if she wins, her incoming administration will initiate draconian anti-Israel policies and hide behind the claim that she merely inherited these policies from the previous administration.

These could include an arms embargo of some kind that would hamper Israel from prosecuting its wars against Hamas and Hezbollah, or a linkage of future arms shipments to a unilateral cease-fire on terms disadvantageous to Israel. Other options include leveling financial sanctions, such as freezing bank accounts or denying access to the SWIFT international money transfer system. Targets could include right-wing Israeli cabinet members such as Bezalel Smotrich and Itamar Ben-Gvir, or organizations such as Amana and the Nachala Foundation, which raise money and help finance infrastructure in Judea and Samaria.

Most of these actions would be reversible if Trump takes office, but even two and a half months of sanctions could stall Israel’s military momentum, right when the IDF has Hamas and Hezbollah on the run. It would also encourage European nations clamoring for similar actions and embolden the forces working overtime to delegitimize Israel’s claims to Judea and Samaria, which is now home to more than 850,000 Jews, counting the 350,000 who live in Jerusalem neighborhoods built after the 1967 Six Day War.

Pressure Doesn’t Pay

There is precedent for a departing US administration shoving Israel under the bus in its waning days.

Just three weeks before Barack Obama ceded the Oval Office to Donald Trump, the Obama administration stabbed Israel in the back by abstaining from, rather than vetoing, UN Resolution 2334, which labeled Israel’s settlement activity in Judea and Samaria a “flagrant violation” of international law and declared that the settlements had no “legal validity.”

While Obama’s vindictive, last-minute move surprised no one, none other than Ronald Reagan pulled off a shocker in mid-December 1988, five weeks before his second term ended, when he broke a longstanding American boycott of the Palestinian Liberation Organization and entered into a “substantive dialogue” with the terrorist organization sworn to the destruction of Israel.

Except for the shock value, the UN resolution that the Obama administration let by was toothless. The UN did not invoke any sanctions or implement any coercive measures against Israel. Ultimately, the Trump administration showed its contempt for it with its November 2019 declaration that the settlements were not illegal.

However, Reagan’s decision to recognize the PLO caused Israel far more damage in the long term. It was a blunder of monumental proportions, as it granted American legitimacy to a terrorist organization and its chairman, Yasser Arafat. It provided the impetus for back-channel negotiations initiated by gullible Israelis and led to the Oslo Accords four years later. Arafat rewarded Israel’s blind leap of faith by building a terror infrastructure in Judea and Samaria that threatens the lives of Israelis to this day.

Reagan’s act came out of left field, as he was considered a strong supporter of Israel. Reagan had strengthened US strategic and military cooperation with Israel, despite his initial opposition to Israel’s 1981 air strike that destroyed Iraq’s nuclear reactor, and concerns over Israel’s 1982 invasion of Lebanon in alliance with Lebanese Christian militias to oust PLO forces. Despite Israeli dependence on the US and whatever personal animosity he felt toward Israel’s unbending prime minister, Menachem Begin, Reagan made peace with the idea that the US could not force Israel to concur with positions that Israel believed ran contrary to its vital interests.

Friends in High Places

Which brings us back to the here and now.

What can Israel do to forestall any vindictive or punitive actions the outgoing Biden administration might take in its last days?

To the greatest extent possible, Israel should operate well under the radar. Israel has many friends in Washington who are keeping an eye out for any last-minute desperation Hail Marys the Biden administration might be tempted to employ as the clock runs out on their term in office.

Last week, Iowa’s Senator James Risch, the ranking Republican on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, said that when Congress returns to session after the election, he and 26 Senate colleagues will introduce a “Stand with Israel” bill that would cut off US funding to United Nations agencies that expel, downgrade, suspend, or otherwise restrict the participation of the State of Israel. Representative Mike Lawler (R-NY), who is locked in a tight re-election race with Democrat Mondaire Jones, has introduced a similar bill in the House of Representatives.

In any event, it’s getting harder to justify US funding to a UN led by Antonio Guterres, who is hopelessly biased and hostile toward Israel and who supports UNRWA, an organization with proven ties to Hamas that stood idly by as Hamas exploited its infrastructure to use as bases from which to attack Israel.

In addition, Israel and Jewish supporters of Donald Trump should try to persuade him to declare that if he wins, he will consider any last-minute executive orders from the Biden administration against Israel, including arms embargos and financial sanctions, to be null and void and will reverse them shortly after he takes the oath of office on January 20, 2025.

Finally, someone ought to make the case to Biden that the split personality he has displayed to Israel will not help him build his legacy.

There is the Joe Biden who flew to Israel following the October 7 massacre, which at least initially was a genuine show of compassion and empathy, and the Joe Biden who has dispatched US naval warships to the Middle East and sophisticated anti-missile batteries to defend Israel and deter Iran.

Then there is the Joe Biden who has played petty politics, interfering in Israel’s internal affairs, trying to undermine its prime minister and government elected by a large majority of Israelis, and handcuffing Israel militarily as it fights for its survival against enemies trying to annihilate it.

Which legacy would Biden like to preserve?

The decisions he makes in his final two months, no matter whether his hand-picked successor or his despised political rival wins, will play an important role in how history views him.

(Originally featured in Mishpacha, Issue 1034)