Congress Fêtes Israel at 75

It’s hard not to be moved by the warmth with which President Herzog of Israel was received on Capitol Hill today as he spoke on the 75th anniversary of the founding of the Jewish State. The chamber rose nearly 30 times for bipartisan applause to a speech highlighting the bond between our countries. Yet, standing ovations aside, all the enthusiasm and warm feelings mask a new development in respect of Israel-American relations. The world gained an early glimpse of this in 2015, when Prime Minister Netanyahu, in one of the most dramatic speeches ever delivered to a joint session, warned America against entering an agreement with Iran. The speech was boycotted by the senator who would become Hillary Clinton’s running mate. And by Vice President Biden, though he claimed it was a travel conflict. President Obama made clear his fury at the Israeli leader.That was a disaster for the Democrats (it helped elect President Trump, who agreed with Mr. Netanyahu’s warning and promptly pulled out of the Iran deal). President Herzog was invited last year to address a joint session by Speaker Pelosi and the Senate’s majority leader, Charles Schumer. Mr. Herzog was received warmly at the White House Tuesday by President Biden, who for the better of six months pointedly denied Mr. Nenatyahu a similar visit. Mr. Herzog is certainly qualified for the honors today. He is the head of state of the Jewish State. He wisely confined his Wednesday address to savoring the long history of the American-Israeli love affair. He reminisced about his father, President Chaim Herzog, who addressed a joint meeting of Congress 30 years ago. He cited his grandfather, Israel’s first chief rabbi, Yitzhak Halevi Herzog, who famously thanked Truman for recognizing Israel.In the political sense, though, the event was a kind of a slap in the face to Israel. The speech drew no jeers from either side. Yet, that rare feat was only made possible because a dozen House Democrats refused to attend. Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, Senator Sanders, and other Israel detractors made a point of skipping the session. Representative Pramila Jayapal, who was earlier forced to retract her “racist state” statement, cited a prior engagement. The New York Times’s Thomas Friedman is writing that Mr. Biden asked him for a White House conversation on Tuesday right after meeting Mr. Herzog. If Mr. Biden felt he didn’t fully articulate his positions to the Israeli guest, or was misunderstood in a Monday phone call with Mr. Netanyahu, there is no need to worry. Mr. Friedman issued a column trying to palm off on Times’s readers that Mr. Biden might be the “last pro-Israel Democratic president.”That train left the station in the last Democratic administration. It is amazing — but true — that the decision to recognize the Iran deal for what it is fell to the Republicans (Mr. Trump). The Democrats failed to accomplish moving our embassy in Israel to Jerusalem — even though Mr. Biden, then a senator of Delaware, was an author of the bill legislating the embassy move, a bill that was passed almost unanimously in the Congress.Several of the Democrats who declined on Tuesday to support a House resolution stating that Israel isn’t racist also voted that same day to end sanctions on Syria. Politicians who call themselves progressives consistently favor over liberal Israel such Middle East regimes as are un-elected, oppress minorities, put women in shackles, and hang gay persons. Mr. Biden may hark back to a bipartisan pro-Israel tradition, but don’t be fooled. He senses that his party’s future is with its vocal — to use the euphemism — “anti-Zionists.” To appease them, Mr. Biden has latched on to an internal Israeli debate over the power of the country’s Supreme Court. Mr. Netanyahu’s opponents beg America to intervene. Mr. Herzog, who is attempting to bridge his country’s political divide, told Congress that a “strong and independent judiciary” is a pillar of Israel’s democracy. Then again, Mr. Herzog also subtly criticized Mr. Biden’s attempt at reaching “understandings” that would leave a genocidal regime with enough enriched uranium for a nuclear bomb. “Allowing Iran to become a threshold nuclear state, whether by omission or by diplomatic commission, is unacceptable,” Mr. Herzog said, reminiscent of Mr. Netanyahu’s 2015 rebuke of Mr. Obama. Mr. Netanyahu was accused of interfering in American politics.Mr. Netanyahu addressed an existential threat to his country. The Israeli debate over the judiciary, in contrast, poses no threat to America. Mr. Biden’s constant warnings of perils to Israel’s democracy is indeed blatant interference in another country’s internal affairs. He blames Israel for seeking a supreme court more like our own, the power of which Democrats want to curb here the way Israelis want to curb their own high court. Go figure.Mr. Biden may fear that AOC or Mr. Sanders might challenge him next year. Or he may harbor imperial dreams of saving Israel from itself. Either way, Washington’s meddling is likely to widen Israel’s divisions and our own and complicate Mr. Herzog’s mediation. Meanwhile allies around the world wonder: If a 75-year bond is so vulnerable, why side with America? Our own hope is that most of our elected representatives who cheered Israel on Tuesday still represent most Americans.

Congress Fêtes Israel at 75

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