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So... the long-awaited @POTUS- @IsraeliPM call finally happened last night. Should never have been a big deal, but for the time elapsed since the inauguration. ( @netanyahu was the 3rd foreign leader called by Trump; @BarackObama called Olmert on his 1st day in @WhiteHouse).
This may have been only a courtesy call, but language of the parallel readouts is telling. (I've done lots of these.) Netanyahu - fighting for re-election on 23 Mar - "needed" this call (far more than Biden) to prove his mettle as steward of the #US- #Israel rel'nship. It shows.
Note the jolly smile in his press release; no photo in the WH version. Israeli readout refers to their "very warm and friendly" conversation, which lasted for "approx 1 hour" - vs. Biden's "good" w/no mention of call's duration. https://www.gov.il/en/departments/news/spoke_biden170221
Netanyahu's version also makes specific note of his "longstanding personal connection" to Biden - of which the WH made ZERO mention. (Guess he's not that into Bibi.) Substantive gaps too. https://www.whitehouse.gov/briefing-room/statements-releases/2021/02/17/readout-of-president-joseph-r-biden-jr-call-with-prime-minister-benjamin-netanyahu-of-israel/
Neither of them uses Trump's "Abraham Accords" nomenclature: Netanyahu refers to "peace accords" - while Biden speaks of normalization (a process that nobody "owns" presumably) and advancing "peace throughout the region, incl btw Israelis and Palestinians." No Pals for Netanyahu.
Bibi highlights the "Iranian threat"; Biden speaks less menacingly of "regional security issues, incl Iran".
Also, was impt politically for Netanyahu to say that POTUS "commended his leadership in the fight vs. the coronavirus" - but not impt enough for WH to put in its readout.
Also, was impt politically for Netanyahu to say that POTUS "commended his leadership in the fight vs. the coronavirus" - but not impt enough for WH to put in its readout.
All in all, the US and Israel will remain fast friends who, sometimes, will agree to disagree. But the days of the Netanyahu-Trump symbiosis are over. Bibi and Biden will not be marching in lockstep - and it's all there in black and white.
