Israel’s new U.S. ambassador, Gilad Erdan, began his term in Washington, DC on Thursday, coinciding with his appointment coinciding with President Biden’s inauguration.
He replaced Ambassador Ron Dermer, who served for seven-and-a-half years and helped shape the Trump administration’s dramatic shift in U.S. policy toward Israel and the Middle East.
Erdan, who will serve as both Israeli ambassador to the United States and the United Nations, said he is committed to working with the Biden administration in the fight against the COVID-19 pandemic and climate change.
“I am entering my position as Israel’s ambassador to the world’s most important country and Israel’s most important ally,” Erdan said in a statement.
“Under my leadership, Israel will continue to work closely with the United States and cooperate with the new administration on its agenda to defeat the coronavirus and combat climate change, an issue that is very close to me,” he added.
Erdan is the second member of the Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu
Benjamin (Bibi) NetanyahuMOREThe Likud political party and its position in Washington are seen as a direct extension of Netanyahu.
Erdan is expected to present his credentials to Biden, a traditional ceremony for an incoming diplomat, but which will no doubt be different from the COVID-19 era. According to the Israeli embassy, the date of the meeting has not yet been set.
It will be a key voice as the Biden administration works to engage Iran in curbing its nuclear ambitions in an effort to return the United States to the 2015 Iran nuclear deal, with the goal of preventing Tehran gains capabilities to build a nuclear weapon.
Netanyahu opposes the US re-entering the agreement, arguing that the agreement does not go far enough to restrict Tehran’s nuclear ambitions, which are an existential threat to Israel, and President Trump
Donald Trump: Clinton, Bush and Obama reflect on the peaceful transition of power on the day of Biden’s inauguration. The Arizona Republican’s brothers say he is “at least partially guilty” of Capitol violence. Biden reverses Trump’s $ 400 million fund freezewithdrawal of the agreement in 2018.
For Biden, Israel’s opposition to the United States committing to Iran will be bolstered by key relations in Washington with Yousef Al Otaiba, the UAE’s envoy to the United States, and Bahrain’s ambassador. in the United States Abdullah Bin Mohammad Bin Rashed Al Khalifa – relations formally mediated by the Trump administration under the agreement known as the Abraham Accords.
Al Otaiba maintained a close relationship with Dermer while he was the Israeli envoy to Washington.
And both the UAE and Bahrain have expressed their expectation of being included by the Biden administration in discussions about Iran’s involvement in restricting its nuclear program.
Although Biden has long expressed strong support for Israel and said the United States’ commitment to its security is “farrowed,” his administration is expected to review many of the drastic political changes that have taken place under Israel. Trump administration, a move that will likely attract Israeli opposition.
This includes the Biden administration’s commitment to re-engage with the Palestinians, who hope that the president will resume funding from the United Nations Relief and Works Agency, the main assistance program for to Palestinian refugees for whom Trump cut U.S. aid in 2018.
Israel welcomed the move at the time and has long criticized the agency for helping to perpetuate Palestinian refugee status from the 1948 Israeli-Arab war and include their deceased as benefactors of the refugee status.
Another key move made by the Trump administration that Israel received was the former Secretary of State Mike Pompeo
Mike PompeoBiden uses career officials at interpretation venues in the state, USAID, the UN China sanctions Pompeo and more than two dozen American figures China calls Pompeo a “clown on trial day” after treatment of the genocide labeled UIGURS MOREThe decision to recognize Israeli settlements in the West Bank as part of Israel, a major reversal of U.S. policy.
The majority of the world community considers settlements to be illegal under international law. In addition, Pompey properly managed U.S. investment in settlements (which was previously blocked) and allowed exports of Israeli settlements to the West Bank to the U.S. to be labeled “Made in Israel.”
Other key issues include how the Biden administration addresses the boycott, divestment and sanctions movement, an organized effort to pressure Israel through political, cultural and economic boycotts on its policies towards the Palestinians.
Pompey issued a directive to the State Department labeling the movement anti-Semitic and ordered the agency to draft a list of non-governmental organizations supporting the movement that would be barred from receiving funding from the State Department. .
There is bipartisan opposition to the boycott, divestment and sanctions in Congress, but Democratic lawmakers are divided over the implications of legislating against the movement for concerns of violating First Amendment rights.
Anthony Blink
Antony BlinkenSenate confirms Biden’s intellectual head, giving him the first cabinet minister. Biden is taking steps to stop the American exodus from the World Health Organization., Biden’s candidate for secretary of state, said on Tuesday during his confirmation hearing in the Senate that he and the president are “decidedly opposed” to the movement and that he “unjustly and inappropriately distinguishes Israel, promotes a double norm and a norm that we do do not apply to other countries “.
But Blinken also said he respects the rights of the First Amendment of Americans “to say what they believe and think.”
Blinken also said during his confirmation hearing that the Biden administration will maintain the U.S. embassy in Jerusalem. Trump moved the embassy there from Tel Aviv in 2018, held by Israeli officials in recognition of Jerusalem’s legitimate recognition as the country’s undivided capital.
The majority of the international community that maintains relations with Israel maintains its diplomatic missions in Tel Aviv, recognizing that the final status of Jerusalem should only be determined through thorough negotiations between Israelis and Palestinians, who hope to establish the capital in the city. of a future Palestinian state. .