During his 36 years in the Senate, Biden was the chamber’s biggest recipient in history of donations from pro-Israeli groups, taking in US$4.2 million, according to the Open Secrets database.
As vice president, Biden often mediated the testy relationship between Obama and Netanyahu.
Dennis Ross, a Middle East adviser during Obama’s first term, recalled Biden intervening to prevent retribution against Netanyahu for a diplomatic snub during a 2010 visit.
Obama, Ross said, had wanted to come down hard over Israel’s announcement of a major expansion of housing for Jews in East Jerusalem, the mostly Arab half of the city captured in the 1967 war.
“Whenever things were getting out of hand with Israel, Biden was the bridge,” said Ross, now at the Washington Institute for Near East Policy. “His commitment to Israel was that strong … And it’s the instinct we’re seeing now.”
While Biden and Netanyahu profess to be longtime friends, their relationship was frayed in recent months with the White House echoing Israeli opponents of Netanyahu’s plan to curb the powers of the Supreme Court of Israel.
PROGRESSIVE DISSENT
The two now find themselves in an uneasy alliance that could be tested by an Israeli ground offensive.
Republican US Senator Lindsey Graham, in an interview with Reuters, expressed confidence that the “arc of time” in Biden and Netanyahu’s relationship would enable them to work together.
But in a veiled swipe, Graham, who spent years as Biden’s Senate colleague, said it was “imperative” he set “red lines” to keep Iran, Hamas’s benefactor, out of the conflict.
Biden has warned Iran not to get involved but has not spelled out consequences.
Hamas gunmen killed 1,400 people and took around 200 hostages, including Americans, when they rampaged through Israeli towns. Israel has since put Gaza under siege. At least 4,385 Palestinians have been killed, Gaza officials said.
Source: CNA
