Israel’s new ambassador to the US, Gilad Erdan, began his tenure in Washington, DC, on Thursday, when his appointment coincided with President Biden’s inauguration.
He replaced Ambassador Ron Dermer, who held the position for seven and a half years and who helped shape the dramatic shift in U.S. policy towards Israel and the Middle East by the Trump administration.
Erdan, who will take the dual role of Israeli ambassador to the US and the United Nations, said he is committed to working with the Biden government to tackle the COVID-19 pandemic and climate change.
“I am 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 work with the new government on its agenda to defeat the coronavirus and tackle climate change, a topic that is very close to my heart, ”he added .
Erdan is the second-ranked member of the Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu
Benjamin (Bibi) Netanyahu MORELikud’s political party, and his position in Washington, is seen as a direct extension of Netanyahu.
Erdan is expected to hand over his credentials to Biden, a traditional ceremony for an aspiring diplomat, but one that will no doubt be different in the era of COVID-19. The date for a meeting has not yet been set, according to the Israeli embassy.
He will be a key voice as the Biden administration strives to involve Iran in curbing its nuclear ambitions in an effort to bring the US back to the 2015 Iran nuclear deal aimed at preventing Tehran from reaching capabilities. to build a nuclear weapon.
Netanyahu opposes the US reentry of the deal, arguing that the deal does not go far enough to limit Tehran’s nuclear ambitions, which pose an existential threat to Israel, and the former President Trump
Donald Trump Clinton, Bush and Obama reflect on the peaceful transfer of power on Biden’s Inauguration Day The Arizona Republican Party brothers say he is “at least partially to blame” for the violence in the Capitol.withdrawal from the deal in 2018.
For Biden, Israel’s opposition to the US and Iran will be reinforced by important ties in Washington with Yousef Al Otaiba, the United Arab Emirates’ envoy to the US, and Bahraini Ambassador to the US Abdullah Bin Mohammad Bin Rashed Al Khalifa – relations that were formally established by the Trump administration under the agreement known as the Abraham Accords.
Al Otaiba developed a close relationship with Dermer while he was the Israeli envoy in Washington.
And both the UAE and Bahrain have spoken out on their expectation by the Biden government to be involved in discussions about involving Iran in limiting its nuclear program.
While Biden has long voiced his strong support for Israel, saying the U.S. commitment to its security is “ rock solid, ” his administration is expected to review many of the drastic policy changes under the Trump administration, a move likely to face opposition. will draw Israel.
This includes the Biden administration’s commitment to work again with the Palestinians, who hope the president will resume funding for the United Nations Relief and Works Agency, the primary aid program for Palestinian refugees for which Trump discontinued US aid in 2018 .
Israel welcomed the move at the time and has long criticized the agency for contributing to perpetuating the status of Palestinian refugees from the 1948 Israeli-Arab war and including their deceased as benefactors of refugee status.
Another important move by the Trump administration that welcomed Israel was the former Secretary of State Mike Pompeo
Mike PompeoBiden Taps Appeal Officers For Acting Posts At State, USAID, UN China Sanctions Pompeo And More Than Two Dozen American Figures China Calls Pompeo ‘Doomsday Clown’ After Treating Uyghurs Named Genocide MOREThe decision to recognize Israeli settlements in the West Bank as part of Israel represents a major reversal in US policy.
Most of the world community considers the settlements illegal under international law. In addition, Pompeo approved US investment in the settlements – which had previously been blocked – and allowed exports of Israeli settlements in the West Bank to the US as “Made in Israel”.
Other important issues include how the Biden government approaches the boycott, divestment and sanctions movement, an organized effort to pressure Israel through political, cultural and economic boycotts over its policies towards the Palestinians.
Pompeo issued a directive to the State Department declaring the movement anti-Semitic and instructed the agency to draw up a list of non-governmental organizations that support the movement and that would not receive State Department funding.
There is bipartisan opposition to boycott, divestment, and sanctions in Congress, but Democratic lawmakers are divided on the implications of legislation against the movement over concerns about violating First Amendment rights.
Antony Blink
Senate confirms Biden’s chief of intelligence and gives him first cabinet official Biden steps to stop US exodus from World Health Organization Biden taps career officials to acting posts at State, USAID, UN MORE, Biden’s Secretary of State nominee, said at his Senate confirmation hearing on Tuesday that he and the president are “resolutely opposed” to the movement and that it “unfairly and improperly distinguishes Israel, promoting a double standard and a standard that we do not apply to other countries. “
But Blinken also said he respects First Amendment rights for Americans “to say what they believe and think.”
Blinken also said at his hearing that the Biden administration will hold the US embassy in Jerusalem. Trump moved the embassy there from Tel Aviv in 2018, celebrated by Israeli officials as legitimate recognition of Jerusalem as the country’s undivided capital.
Most of the international community that has relations with Israel maintain their diplomatic missions in Tel Aviv and recognize that the ultimate status of Jerusalem should only be determined through extensive negotiations between the Israelis and the Palestinians, who hope to establish a capital of a future Palestinian. is able to settle in the city. .