Washington DC – Benny Gantz, an Israeli minister without portfolio, was granted an audience in Washington DC this week with officials at the highest levels of the US government: the vice president, the secretary of state and the Pentagon chief.
US officials expressed support for Israel amid the war on the Gaza Strip, calling for more aid to the besieged territory and reiterating their call for a pause in the fighting, according to government statements.
But analysts say the real message was in all the meetings: President Joe Biden’s administration was signaling frustration with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu by hosting a figure as Netanyahu’s main domestic rival.
Elevating Gantz without meaningful consideration of US support for Israel, however, is a “meaningless” gesture that will fail to stop abuses against Palestinians, rights advocates told Al Jazeera.
“You have the Biden administration voicing its anger against the Israeli government rather than opposing politicians doing what it should be doing … which is ending all forms of U.S. arms transfers to Israel,” a Georgetown University Adjunct lecturer Josh Rubner said. Justice and Peace Program.
Rubner added that Netanyahu may be “disturbed” by Gantz’s visit to the US capital, but not so much as to push the Israeli prime minister to change his government’s policies towards Gaza.
Netanyahu will not feel he is losing US support “as long as and as long as” the threat of sanctions by Washington is not on the table, Rubner told Al Jazeera. “Only this is really going to force a change in Israel’s behavior and policies and apartheid practices.”
‘Biden’s Subordinate Revenge’
US officials often refuse to interfere in the internal political affairs of other countries, including Israel.
Pressed on Monday about whether Washington considers high-level talks with Gantz appropriate, State Department spokesman Matthew Miller highlighted that the Israeli politician is a member of the country’s war cabinet.
Gantz has also spoken with top U.S. officials, including Secretary of State Anthony Blanken, several times since the fighting in Gaza began on Oct. 7, Miller said.
“We find him an important figure within the Israeli government to engage with and — a number of issues that we have right now that we are discussing with the government of Israel,” he told reporters. “For our purposes, this is an important meeting.”
Gantz, a former top general, joined Israel’s war cabinet after violence erupted in Gaza. He previously led a centrist political bloc that failed to oust Netanyahu in several elections.
Although he is in a government waging a war on Gaza that has killed more than 30,000 Palestinians, Gantz remains Netanyahu’s main opponent and is the favorite to succeed him, according to recent public opinion polls.
I met today with Benny Gantz of Israel and reiterated our support for Israel’s right to self-defense. We discussed the need to get a hostage deal, increase the flow of aid to Gaza, and protect civilians. pic.twitter.com/IB6C6qZRFo
— Vice President Kamala Harris (@VP) March 4, 2024
On the US side, Gantz’s visit came amid growing reports of Biden’s alleged friction with Netanyahu as the Gaza war escalates.
Netanyahu has been openly rejecting Washington’s requests and policy pronouncements, including rejecting a two-state solution to the conflict.
So far, the Biden administration has ruled out aid or arms transfers to Israel to pressure its top ally to better align with U.S. priorities. In fact, the White House is working with Congress to secure more than $14 billion in additional aid to Israel.
Khalil Jahshan, executive director of the Arab Center, a Washington DC think tank, described Gantz’s reception in the US as “Biden’s revenge against Netanyahu”.
“That doesn’t mean there’s anything bad in the final analysis,” Jahshan told Al Jazeera, adding that the Biden administration was “playing the game” in the context of internal Israeli politics but failing to change support for the war. .
Netanyahu was not pleased that Gantz held meetings in Washington, D.C., according to Israeli and American media reports this week.
An unnamed official from the prime minister’s right-wing Likud party told the Associated Press news agency that Gantz’s trip was unauthorized by the government. The official added that Netanyahu had a tough talk with the minister, stressing that Israel has “only one prime minister.”
But analysts stress that despite differences with Netanyahu, Gantz should not be seen as a moderate alternative when it comes to Israel’s policies toward the Palestinians — and especially toward Gaza.
Jahshan noted that Gantz, a general who led the Israeli military’s 2014 war on Gaza, is not a “peacemaker”; He shares the Israeli government’s goal of eliminating Hamas, whatever the cost to the Palestinians.
“Biden and Gantz may be concerned with downplaying the effects of the pandemic [current Gaza] The war, but they are not related to the Palestinians or the end of the war,” he said.
Gantz’s words
Jahshan added that Gantz’s visit also served as an opportunity for the Biden administration to reiterate its unconditional support for Israel.
In her meeting with Gantz, Vice President Kamala Harris “reiterated American support for Israel’s right to defend itself in the face of the ongoing terrorist threat from Hamas, and emphasized our unwavering commitment to Israel’s security.” The White House said in a statement on Monday.
For its part, the Pentagon said Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin “requested Secretary Gantz’s assistance in enabling more humanitarian aid and distribution to Gaza” during their meeting.
Israel is blocking humanitarian aid from entering Gaza and reaching the hardest-hit areas, exacerbating shortages of food, water and medicine.
At least 16 children have died of starvation and dehydration in the past two weeks in the north of the region, according to health officials.
“Begging, begging nicely, engaging in PR stunts like dropping 38,000 meals to the Gaza Strip is not going to stop the mass starvation that Palestinians are expected to face and deny the reality.” That Palestinian children are literally starving right now,” said. Ruebner, lecturer.
“These are meaningless words in the context of a closed-door meeting with an Israeli politician who is not a key figure in this particular Israeli government.”
Sandra Tamari, executive director of the Adela Justice Project, an advocacy group, echoed that assessment.
He insisted that the United States should use its leverage — the aid and weapons it sends to Israel — to pressure the Israeli government to allow enough humanitarian aid into Gaza.
But instead, he said, Biden is doing everything in his power to “give the illusion” that he is working to end the war while arming Israel and giving it diplomatic cover at the United Nations. continues to do.
“By hosting Gantz, the Biden administration could give the impression that somehow Netanyahu is the only problem, and that the whole system is not to blame,” Tamari told Al Jazeera.