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| President-elect, Joe Biden (CNN) |
Frankly I will be glad to be rid of him. The constant embarrassment that emanated from his office almost daily during his occupancy will finally be over. Replaced by a man who understands the dignity that high office demands and will behave accordingly. Yes. Dignity will be restored to what it was under the current occupant’s predecessor.
This does not mean that I won’t miss many of Trump’s polices. I will. Especially when it comes to our relationship with Israel. Which as of now has never been better. Never has their been the warm relationship there is now. It is more than obvious that the policies of the US are as close to the policies of Israel as possible in almost every respect. Polices that benefitted both countries. There is virtually no daylight between us. And no tension. There is practically a love affair between us. Which is why the President is so popular in Israel. If he were to run for Prime Minister, he would probably win quite easily. (And yes, I know he has many detractors in Israel too. But the majority loves him.)
I will miss all that. But that doesn’t mean the US and Israel will now be adversaries, God forbid. That is the last thing that will happen. Israel and the US are close allies each relying on the other for vital services. Our relationship will be based on strategic interests more than warmth.
Joe Biden has a pretty good record on supporting Israel during his time in the senate. If I understand correctly he voted for every pro Israel act in congress. He will not reverse the decisions the Trump administration made. Biden has already promised that the US embassy will remain in Jerusalem. I presume he will continue to pursue the Trump administration’s policy of making peace between Israel and other Arab nations. Nor will all that warmth disappear. I don’t think his relationship with the Prime Minister will be all that bad. They have known each other for decades and have always been on friendly terms. Even when there were policy disagreements. The relationship will be a lot less strained than it was under Obama.
The issues I am most worried about are the restoration of settlements as a front burner issue; restoring credibility to the Palestinian narrative voiced by its corrupt leaders; what our support for Israel in the UN will look like; and the restoration of the Iran nuclear deal.
My hope is that Biden recognizes that the Palestinian reaction to Trump’s very pro Israel policy did not end up with the dire predictions made by so-called experts about an exploding Intifada. Perhaps Biden will rethink past US positions much of which was based of that kind of calculation. Which might give rise to a friendlier attitude in the UN.
With respect to Iran, all is not lost. It is true that he wants to go back to that terrible deal. But if I understand correctly, not without some modifications. Such as requiring not only ceasing uranium enrichment to bomb making levels, but to also cease their ballistic missile development. And hopefully to condition any reductions of crippling sanctions on ending their spread of terror throughout the region. Which has mostly been in the form of supplying Hamas and Hezbollah with weapons to use against Israel. Remember also that Iran has sworn to wipe Israel off the map as soon as they are able to.
If that the kind of deal he pursues, I will support it – provided it is all verifiable with those crippling sanctions snapping back into place if there are any violations.
That said, the Middle East peace process is on the back burner for now. I doubt he will be doing much right now that will radically change the status quo. The number one issue is the pandemic. Followed very closely by the economy. Which is in shambles because of it.
On that score - whether anything he does will hasten the end of the pandemic any more than the current President would have done if he had won is an open question about which I have my doubts. But we shall see.
Bearing all this in mind, I think it’s time for all those who saw the President as their hero to ‘give it up’! Time to end the despair. It will not help and is in any any case unwarranted. After January 20th their hero will be toast. We all need to face the reality of a Biden Presidency and as Americans support it. Just like Trump was the President of all Americans whether we liked it or not, so too will Biden be the President of all Americans. Nothing will be gained by projecting animus towards him. He is a decent man with good values who is not anti Israel. We ought to appreciate that.
Aside from all this, there are other issues that are important to us all. For those of us that lean conservative (as I do) we too have something to celebrate. The likelihood of a Republican senate will surely prevent any policies Biden might try to implement to satisfy his left flank. As a centrist Democrat he will hopefully stay true to those principles and promote some policies acceptable to both sides of the political aisle.
If we all have this attitude we might just reduce the radicalized atmosphere of hate and mistrust of each other. We will still have our differences. In some case polar opposite differences. But maybe - just maybe we can return to a time where those differences can be discussed without the rancor that has infected so many of us. Which to a large extent can be blamed on the President himself.
Who knows… maybe family relationships torn apart over differences exacerbated by the President - can be restored to what they were before he came into office. One can only hope.