- It's complicated.
That's a description that applies to a lot of activity
in and around Washington these days,
but especially applies to one of the most important
relationships President Joe Biden is working on.
His long acquaintance
with Israeli prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu.
These two leaders have been joined anew in recent days
of course, by the rising tensions between Israelis
and Palestinians and specifically the outbreak of violence
between Israel and Hamas forces in the Gaza Strip.
President Biden and Prime Minister Netanyahu,
have talked numerous times during the course of this crisis.
And publicly Mr. Biden has largely defended Israel's right
to respond with military force to Hamas rocket attacks
saying, "It was entitled to act in self defense."
- The United States fully supports Israel's right
to defend itself against indiscriminate rocket attacks
from Hamas and other Gaza based terrorist groups
that have taken the lives of innocent civilians in Israel.
- Privately he reportedly has been much tougher
with Mr. Netanyahu, saying, "He expected him to deescalate
the situation and deal with Palestinian grievances."
His nudging may have led to the ceasefire
that's finally taken hold but these two
are far from done with each other.
Now the Biden administration inevitably will be deeply
involved in trying to broker a broader agreement
to simultaneously deal with Israel's security concerns,
as well as Palestinian simmering anger
at the way they're treated by Israel, not just in Gaza,
but also in the West Bank and Jerusalem,
and increasingly inside Israel itself.
The long history of this relationship shows President Biden
is prepared to push Prime Minister Netanyahu to go further
than he wants to accommodate Palestinian demands.
But also that he's more likely to do his hard pressing
privately rather than publicly.
- I don't talk about what I tell people in private.
I don't talk about what we negotiate in private.
- [Narrator] These two men have known each other
since the early 1980s
when Mr. Netanyahu was the second in charge
at the Israeli embassy in Washington,
and then later Israel's ambassador to the United nations.
Mr. Biden meanwhile was a US Senator
developing a particular interest in foreign affairs.
They came into closer contact in the 1990s
when Mr. Netanyahu became prime minister
and Senator Biden was on his way to becoming
the top Democrat and eventually chairman
of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee.
They were in these positions of power in the early 2000s
when the George W. Bush administration was both marshaling
an international response to the 9/11 terrorist attacks
and also trying to get peace talks going
between Israel and the Palestinians.
Their relationship became more important
during the Obama administration
when Mr. Biden was vice-president
and Mr. Netanyahu again became prime minister.
Their relationship also became more tense in those days.
The Obama administration put a high priority
on finding a new Israeli Palestinian peace accord.
Vice-president Biden was visiting Israel in March, 2010,
trying to assure Israel of American support for its security
in any such peace deal
when the Netanyahu administration announced the construction
of hundreds of new housing units for Jews in East Jerusalem,
the part of the city where Palestinians envisioned
putting the capital of a Palestinian state someday.
Israeli housing there is one of the most sensitive issues
for Palestinians and one that US officials have long thought
undermines the chances for diplomacy.
Mr. Biden was blindsided and he wasn't happy.
There were tensions again on another front in 2015,
when Prime Minister Netanyahu visited Washington,
and at the invitation of Republican leaders
delivered a speech to a joint session of Congress
devoted to attacking the Iran Nuclear Deal
the Obama administration was then negotiating.
- The greatest danger facing our world
is the marriage of militant Islam with nuclear weapons.
To defeat ISIS and let Iran get nuclear weapons
would be to win the battle, but lose the war.
We can't let that happen. (crowd clapping)
- [Narrator] Obama administration officials were furious
and vice-president Biden who normally would have attended
such a speech was notably absent.
Through these tensions,
President Biden and Prime Minister Netanyahu
appear to have maintained a good relationship,
one in which they are generally supportive of each other
publicly, but have blunt and sometimes acrimonious
conversations in private.
Mr. Biden in particular seems to have decided
to avoid the public sparring
that hurt president Obama's relationship with Israel.
These two men are now being tested anew,
as it is it may be that their relationship is shored up
by one characteristic that they share.
Both Joe Biden and Benjamin Netanyahu
are very good at the art of political survival.
(soft dramatic music)