Analysts say US talks with Benny Gantz aim to vent anger at Netanyahu, but Washington still supporting for war on Gaza.
By: Ali Harb
Benny Gantz, an Israeli minister without a portfolio, was granted an audience with officials at the highest level of the United States government in Washington, DC, this week: the vice president, secretary of state and Pentagon chief.
The US officials expressed support for Israel amid its war on the Gaza Strip, urged more aid to the besieged territory and reiterated their call for a pause in the fighting, according to government statements.
But analysts say the real message was in having the meetings at all: The administration of President Joe Biden was signaling frustration with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu by hosting a figure seen as Netanyahu’s main domestic rival.
Elevating Gantz without meaningfully reconsidering US support for Israel, however, is a “meaningless” gesture that will fail to stop abuses against Palestinians, rights advocates told Al Jazeera.
“You have the Biden administration supposedly expressing its displeasure against the Israeli government to an opposition politician instead of doing what it should be doing … which is ending all forms of US weapons transfers to Israel,” said Josh Ruebner, an adjunct lecturer at Georgetown University’s Justice and Peace program.
Ruebner added that Netanyahu may be “peeved” by Gantz’s visit to the US capital, but not so much as to push the Israeli prime minister to change his government’s policies towards Gaza.
Netanyahu will not feel like he is losing US support “unless and until” the threat of sanctions by Washington is on the table, Ruebner told Al Jazeera. “Only that is really going to compel a change in Israel’s behavior and policies and genocidal actions.”
This article was first published by Aljazeera.net