In a turbulent moment due to the announcement of Joe Biden's resignation from the presidential race, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu flies to Washington this Monday under the heavy weight of a war in Gaza that has lasted almost ten months and whose end is uncertain. He does so not only the day after Biden's withdrawal as a candidate, but also with relations with his main ally at a low point due to criticism of the way he directs the conflict, which has already caused nearly 39,000 deaths and a humanitarian disaster in Gaza.
Israel “will remain an ally of Washington no matter who is elected president,” Netanyahu told local media before embarking on the trip. He has also referred to the planned meeting with Biden, with which he hopes to address the objectives he has set to end the race. This is, Netanyahu explained, about: “Moving forward in the critical months ahead in the objectives that are important for our two countries: achieving the release of all our hostages, defeating Hamas, confronting the terrorist axis of Iran and guaranteeing that all citizens of Israel can safely return to their homes in the north and south.
The Israeli president, who will address the US Congress on Wednesday, will try to convince the authorities of that country to support the hard line he has imposed in the management of the war. This strategy is behind many disagreements in the international arena, including with the United States. Washington has criticized the lack of future plans for the Strip and has canceled the shipment of certain shipments of weapons, while trying to pressure for a truce to be reached between the parts.
In recent months, the Democratic president has suffered pressure in his own ranks and during the primaries, in which he had to fit in a protest vote for the bombings on Gaza. The rejection of the war also spread with numerous camps at universities throughout the United States, with confrontations with the police and arrests.
Netanyahu, in principle, was going to travel on Sunday, but Biden contracted Covid last week and has had his public agenda frozen for several days. “I have known him for more than 40 years” and “this will be an opportunity to thank him for what he has done for Israel in the war and during his long and distinguished career in public service,” said the prime minister.
Knowing what happens outside is understanding what will happen inside, don't miss anything.KEEP READING Controversy has surrounded the preparation of the visit of the Israeli president due to the request of the hostage families' forum to suspend it until a release agreement has been reached.
Despite this, some family members will accompany Netanyahu, as confirmed by a spokesperson for the group. So will Noa Argamani, released in the Strip along with three other hostages on June 8 in an operation in which Israeli troops killed at least 274 Palestinians, according to the health authorities of the Hamas Government.
The prime minister faces almost daily demonstrations against him, especially from those calling for elections and from the families of the hostages. On Saturday alone, up to 80 points in the country hosted protest events, with the largest in central Tel Aviv.
On Sunday, the prime minister held a meeting precisely to delve into the status of the negotiations being carried out to try to bring back the hostages who remain in Gaza, which are estimated to be around 120, of which some 40 have already been presumed dead. At the moment, it has only emerged that an Israeli negotiating team will return this Thursday to Qatar, one of the countries acting as mediators.
Meanwhile, within the army, doubts are growing about the viability of being able to put an end to Hamas, one of the objectives set by Israel. The country has been forced to extend the mandatory military service from 32 to 36 months these days. At the same time, and for the first time, this Sunday the authorities planned to begin recruiting ultra-Orthodox, until now exempt.
Netanyahu is making his first trip to Washington since he was re-elected prime minister in December 2022. He will meet with Biden, with whom he has had a tense relationship over Gaza despite US support, and a meeting also appears on the agenda. meeting with Vice President Kamala Harris, who has already nominated herself to be the candidate in the Democratic presidential race.
Netanyahu is scheduled to address a joint session of the US Congress for the fourth time on Wednesday, though the first during the current war. The last one took place in 2015, with Barack Obama as president, when he warned him of a “nuclear nightmare” if he made a deal with Iran. Along with the hostage families, he will also be accompanied by relatives of some of the soldiers who fell in the war. There are already protest demonstrations called in the street against the Israeli president and it is not ruled out that some congressmen will also show their rejection.
A group of 500 Israeli academics sent a letter last Tuesday to the Speaker of the House of Representatives, Republican Mike Johnson, asking him to withdraw the invitation to the prime minister, stating that “he has demonstrated his indifference to the continued hell endured by the hostages.” American evangelical Christians, like Johnson himself, are fervent allies of the State of Israel.
The visit that Johnson, the country's third official, made in April to the Columbia University campus in the midst of protests in solidarity with Gaza, became a demonstration of support for the Israeli Government's actions in Gaza. Meanwhile, Jewish settlers court religious Republicans four months before an election for which Donald Trump, who has promised to end the wars in Gaza and Ukraine at a stroke, is the favorite.
On board a controversial plane For this trip to the United States, Benjamin Netanyahu is going to debut the controversial plane named Wing of Zion, the Israeli version of the American Air Force One, in which the US president travels. The device, with about 60 seats, is already has had to make a first flight to the other side of the Atlantic these days because it does not have capacity for the entire delegation and the planned equipment 'after several years collecting dust at the Nevatim military air base', in the south of the country, according to The Times of Israel. Commissioned a decade ago, the project has been delayed amid the political wars that plague Israel. The 207 million dollars it has cost (about 190 million euros) are an excess for the opposition and a necessity for the head of the Government's entourage.
