President Joe Biden and Israeli Prime Minister Naftali Bennett held their first face-to-face meeting since Bennett became prime minister Friday. The meeting was set to happen Thursday, but it was delayed due to the suicide attacks in Kabul.
The Iran Nuclear Deal was expected to be at the top of the agenda. Before leaving for the United States, Bennett said he planned to talk President Biden out of trying to revive the deal.
“I will tell President Biden that now is the time to halt the Iranians, to stop this thing, not to give them a rescue line in the form of re-entering a nuclear deal that has already expired and is not relevant,” Bennett said over the weekend. “But we are not satisfied only by this, we will present an organized plan that we have built in the past two months to stop the Iranians in the nuclear dimension and in regards to its regional aggression.”
Biden has made clear his desire to find a path to salvage the deal. It was written up during the Obama Administration, then abandoned in 2018. Since then, Iran has abandoned every limitation the deal imposed on its nuclear enrichment. Indirect talks between the U.S. and Iran have stalled and Washington continues to maintain crippling sanctions on the country.
Another point of conflict between Biden and Bennett could be the expansion of settlements in the West Bank. Bennett supports expansion, but Biden does not.
There’s also the issue of the creation of a Palestinian state. In an interview ahead of his visit, Bennett declined to comment on whether he would try to block Biden’s plans to reopen a U.S. consulate for Palestinians in Jerusalem.
Bennett already met with Secretary of State Antony Blinken and Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin Wednesday. From the Austin meeting, it appears protecting the Iron Dome is a priority for the U.S. when it comes to their relationship with Israel.
“The administration is committed to ensuring that Iron Dome can defend Israeli civilian population centers targeted by terrorist attacks,” Austin said. “We’re working closely with Congress to provide all the necessary information to respond positively to your request for one billion dollars in emergency funding.”
