Biden administration’s disastrous week casts shadow over Bennett’s Washington trip

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Life is what happens when you’re busy making other plans. The suicide bombing attack at Afghanistan’s Kabul airport on Thursday disrupted the planned highlight of Prime Minister Naftali Bennett’s visit in Washington.

Since assuming office in rather unlikely circumstances two and a half months ago, Bennett has been longing for a photo op with U.S. President Joe Biden at the White House. The declarative aspect of the meeting was no less important than the topics on the agenda. But then came the latest bad news from the Afghan crisis, seriously narrowing Bennett’s opportunity to make any political gains from that meeting. Political leaders, much like generals, need a bit of luck sometimes – and the prime minister had none on Thursday night.

LISTEN: Bennett meets Biden. This could be Israel’s worst-case scenario

The live broadcasts on TV became futile. The faces of the Israeli reporters in Washington reflected the confusion caused by the unexpected delay. The only festive event, during peak viewing time, was the release of Roman Zadorov from prison. Former Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s followers rubbed their hands with glee.

Bennett’s entourage worked feverishly to coordinate a shortened meeting, despite everything. The disastrous week the American administration had, with the withdrawal from Afghanistan that went wrong, overshadowed the visit from the start. A few hours before the terror attack, Bennett received his first cancellation when German Chancellor Angela Merkel said she was putting off her visit to Israel next week in view of the crisis.

Biden doesn’t have much time or attention for Bennett when the bloody scenes from Kabul are dredging up Americans’ suppressed memories of Saigon. But presumably the hosts wouldn’t want to disrespect the prime minister. Despite it all, they are still extremely keen on his success as prime minister.

Still, Bennett has one advantage over his predecessor. The visit appears to be free of all the surplus, unsavory baggage that Netanyahu’s trips to Washington had during the Democrat years, from Bill Clinton to Barack Obama.

Bennett’s wife and children were not the only ones who didn’t come on his first visit to the United States as prime minister. One may assume Biden and his people were also spared the bags of dirty laundry, the patronizing lectures on the Israeli people’s unique history and the traditional devious tricks in Congress.

Bennett-Biden meeting: An initiation ceremony under Netanyahu’s shadow

Israel can wait: This is why Biden is determined to leave Afghanistan

Meeting Biden on Iran, Bennett’s task is nearly impossible

On his way to Washington, Bennett briefed journalists on his plan to offer Biden a new strategy to deal with Iran. One may doubt whether he’ll change the president’s mind. Signing a new nuclear agreement that will be very similar to the old one now depends mainly on one unknown – the Iranians’ will.

And yet, there are still things Bennett can aspire to get out of Biden. A commitment to prevent, not only on his term, Iran from becoming nuclear and striving for a “longer and stronger” agreement. All this is now being discussed between the sides after the crushing failure of the Trump-Netanyahu strategy. The policy of maximum pressure and the United States’ withdrawal from the agreement yielded the opposite of the hoped-for result: Iran is much closer to the bomb today than in the past.

On the home front, Bennett was saved from a trap on the Gaza Strip border this week. A tactical malfunction in the Israel Defense Forces’ deployment enabled a Hamas operative to critically wound a Border Police combatant during a violent demonstration. Then the family and the opposition swooped on Bennett when he made a mistake in the name of the wounded soldier, Barel Hadaria Shmueli, in a phone call with his father.

Here a pincer movement was formed, intended to undermine the status of Bennett and senior IDF officers and entangle them in a conflict that would cloud the premier’s visit in the U.S. But the IDF pulled itself together, handled another demonstration on the Gaza border on Tuesday evening well and relative calm returned to the Strip.

It won’t be that way for long, because Hamas wants to coerce a full return to the cease-fire conditions on the eve of the military conflict in May, including the resumption of the entire Qatari grant and further alleviation at the border passes. Consequently, the chances for another conflagration soon are pretty high. The main thing that can avert another clash is Egypt. This week Cairo closed the Rafah crossing in response to the Palestinian violence against Israel, and is exerting heavy pressure on Hamas to avoid confrontation.

The new government is still under inspection on other fronts as well, first and foremost Lebanon. It has good reasons to practice relative restraint in the face of the rockets Hezbollah fired from Lebanon, followed by the those fired from Gaza. But Israel’s responses could be interpreted in the region as containment and even a display of weakness. Almost as usual, the IDF talks a lot about Iran, prepares for war in Lebanon and may find itself ultimately fighting in Gaza.

Bennett’s visit, which was covered with a certain excitement in the Israeli media, is apparently less interesting to the public at home. Israelis have more pressing problems, mainly the fear that a failure to contain the coronavirus will lead to new rigid restrictions. It’s difficult to talk about stardust in Washington when the visit coincides with such difficult circumstances for the hosts. But even if a whiff of it sticks to Bennett on his short U.S. visit, it will evaporate the moment he lands in Israel and goes back to dealing with the real life problems he has at home.