Sunday, February 16, 2025
Google search engine
HomeechofreezoneSnubbing Netanyahu’s address, Kamala Harris shows childish partisanship

Snubbing Netanyahu’s address, Kamala Harris shows childish partisanship


When President Joe Biden took office, some in the media claimed that the “adults are back in charge.” This narrative suggested that former President Donald Trump’s unpredictability had finally given way to officials who practiced a more serious statecraft.

The adults most certainly are not in charge this week.

Addressing a joint session of Congress on Wednesday, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is also expected to meet with Biden and perhaps also Vice President Kamala Harris. Notably, however, the Washington Post reports that Harris will not preside over Netanyahu’s address. That presiding role is diplomatic custom for a vice president in their role as president of the Senate.

This is a childish snub from the presumptive Democratic presidential nominee. One quite obviously motivated by Harris’s fear of alienating anti-Israel voters.

The Biden administration has been deeply frustrated by Netanyahu’s refusal to end Israel’s war against Hamas. Giving Hamas a pass for its refusal to release Israeli hostages as part of a durable ceasefire accord, the administration has prioritized anti-war sentiments on the Democratic Party Left over Israeli security interests. Harris plainly wants to play to that constituency by sidestepping Netanyahu’s speech.

Still, there is a deep unseriousness of leadership reflected by this rebuke. After all, even if the Biden Administration and Netanyahu have serious differences in relation to Gaza, a far larger concern looms.

Secretary of State Antony Blinken stated last week that Iran could produce enough highly enriched uranium for a nuclear weapon within one to two weeks if it chose to do so. And while building a nuclear warhead would take months, Iran’s growing threat should be of exigent concern. Considering that Iran’s leaders are imbued with a theologically vested fetish for martyrdom, an Iranian nuclear weapon would very credibly threaten a second Holocaust.

In turn, it is utterly foolish for Harris to suggest, as her absence from Netanyahu’s speech inevitably will suggest, that the United States has a fundamental separation from Israel. Harris is only encouraging Iran to sense daylight between the U.S. and Israel, fostering Ayatollah Ali Khamenei’s appetite for escalation. This isn’t just about Israel. Iran’s nuclear threat also affects other key American allies such as Saudi Arabia. Harris’s political gamesmanship might be very expensive.

To be sure, Netanyahu is not the great American ally that many Republicans present him to be. On the contrary, under both the Trump and the Biden administrations, Netanyahu pursued engagement with China at the expense of critical U.S. national security interests. I’m reliably informed by sources that the People’s Liberation Army has developed military capabilities off the back of Netanyahu enabled access to Israel’s high-tech sector.

Netanyahu knows full well that the U.S. will likely go to war with China by 2030, but has mocked the U.S. by posting photos on social media celebrating Xi Jinping. China subsequently betrayed Netanyahu by opposing Israel’s defensive war against Hamas. Nevertheless, Netanyahu’s pro-China stance was always an inexcusable one from the leader of a country that has received such enduring U.S. support. Republicans should pay greater notice to this reality. Just as Hungary’s Viktor Orban, China’s closest partner in Europe, receives a free pass from conservative groups such as the Heritage Foundation, Netanyahu’s pro-China policies receive an undue free pass from Republicans in Congress (former House Speaker Kevin McCarthy being a positive exception to that rule).

CLICK HERE TO READ MORE FROM THE WASHINGTON EXAMINER

Again, however, there is far more at stake in U.S.-Israeli relations than Netanyahu’s ego. The sum of this relationship is measured not by personalities but by an enduring alliance built around shared values and sustained by a common interest in opposing varied fanatics.

Not recognizing as much, Harris has failed a key leadership test. Trump would do well to set a better example and, putting aside his own disagreements with Netanyahu, meet the prime minister during his U.S. visit.

Example Ad

Source link

مقالات ذات صلة

LEAVE A REPLY

Please enter your comment!
Please enter your name here

- Advertisment -
Google search engine

الأكثر شهرة

احدث التعليقات