Netanyahu’s latest diplomatic flub

There are times in the history of this country when the actions of the leadership are so “off the wall” as to make it impossible for us, the normal citizens of Israel, to figure out if remarks are intentionally insulting or simply, in this case, a flagrant lack of gratitude. To whom? To everyone in the US administration over the past two and a half years whose actions made it possible for all but 2.77 hundredths of one percent of the population (i.e. the roughly 2,500 people who were killed during the war with Hamas) not to have become “toast.”

Speaking at a joint press conference with Hostage Coordinator Gal Hirsch on Tuesday, Prime Minister Netanyahu stated that ammunition shortages during the war in Gaza led to fatalities among IDF soldiers.

Specifically: “At one point during the war we didn’t have enough ammunition, and our soldiers died,” he said. “Some of the loss of ammunition was a result of the embargo,” presumably alluding to restrictions placed by various Western countries, including the US, on weapons sales to Israel. He then added, “That changed completely when Trump took office.”

Had he not added that last sentence, one could take it as a condemnation of all of the Western governments who, from time to time during the war, reduced (i.e. embargoed) their defensive material support of Israel. However, by adding that last line praising Trump, Bibi converted his remarks to be a jab at the US and, by inference, the Biden administration as well. What unbridled chutzpah that was on his part.

Netanyahu expounded further by saying that Israel paid “very heavy prices” in the fighting, noting that while losses are part of war, “at a certain stage, we didn’t have enough ammunition.”

Amos Hochstein, a senior envoy in the Biden administration, publicly rebuked Netanyahu for that reference.

Hochstein wrote on X: “After more than $20 billion in military support, the largest in Israel’s history, two aircraft carriers rushed to the region, deterring a massive regional war, defeating Iran missile and drone attacks twice, and defending Israel at its most vulnerable moments, the only acceptable response to President Biden and the American people is thank you.” And he is correct, that is the only acceptable response.

Hochstein could have added as well that on October 18, 2023, just 11 days after the Hamas attack, former President Biden made a one-day visit to Israel and gave us a big “hug” for which everyone here at the time, if you recall, was both impressed and immensely grateful. US presidents don’t often travel to war zones, although Biden also visited Kyiv in the midst of the Russian invasion of Ukraine.

The elation over that visit was similar to what we all experienced on March 16, 1997, when the late King Hussein of Jordan made a historic condolence visit to Israel following the killing of seven Israeli schoolgirls by a Jordanian soldier at the “Island of Peace” border post. It was one of those “can you believe it?” events.

More importantly, during Biden’s visit to Israel, the US basically gave us the “keys” to the ammunition locker here in Israel where American munitions are stored in case they are ever needed by them. Biden told Netanyahu to take whatever was needed, and there was no quid pro quo discussed at the time regarding payment for what we used, either.

Hochstein was correct in accusing Netanyahu of misrepresenting the situation. “Netanyahu is both not telling the truth and ungrateful to a president that literally saved Israel at its most vulnerable moment,” he said.

For the record, Biden left office with a ceasefire in Gaza and hostages returning home, a truce in Lebanon with Hezbollah weakened, and Iran in its weakest position in decades following two failed missile attacks on Israel countered by US deployments and coordinated defenses that damaged Iranian air defenses.

To be sure, when President Trump came into office a year ago, he certainly seemed to increase the concern of the White House for Israel’s welfare, for which we are grateful. He was instrumental in getting all of the remaining hostages home, while arranging wide regional support for a peace process in Gaza as well. He deserves full credit for all of that.

Given all of this, what could have been Netanyahu’s reason for the uncalled-for swipe at the Biden administration? Clearly, there was only one reason for him to do so and only one benefit to Israel, at least in his mind. Bibi knows that one can never heap enough praise on Trump to fully satisfy his ego, that Trump himself continues to take every opportunity to denigrate his immediate predecessor, and still believes that the 2020 election was stolen, as he mentioned, yet again, in his rambling talk last week at Davos.

Given all of this, Bibi probably said what he did either (a) to curry additional favors from the White House or (b), possibly, in response to a request from the White House to do so. This is, of course, conjecture on my part but, truth be told, there is no practical benefit either to Trump or to Netanyahu to continue to complain about how they perceive we were treated by the Biden administration.

Nevertheless, the diplomatic expertise of the Israeli government need not be sullied in order to stroke the ego of the person occupying the White House. As the Americans often say, “we are better than that,” and, if so, we should conduct ourselves accordingly.