Netanyahu dithers 12-1/2 hours before congratulating Biden

Picture Benjamin Netanyahu sitting in the prime minister’s house in Jerusalem as the election was called for Joe Biden by news networks at about 11:30 a.m. yesterday in Washington. Netanyahu is nothing if not political, and he knows he has to congratulate Biden, but he also knows that his dear friend Donald Trump rejects the American people’s verdict out of hand, so he can’t rush too quickly into it because he wants to stay on the president’s good side and squeeze pro-Israel actions from him in the 10 weeks that remain. It’s a careful calculation. When Donald Trump calls up angrily, Netanyahu wants to be able to tell Trump that he had no choice, and he didn’t throw Trump under the bus.

So Netanyahu held off for 12-1/2 hours, even as dozens of international leaders promptly congratulated Biden on his victory — Boris Johnson, Angela Merkel, Emmanuel Macron, the head of the EU, Justin Trudeau, Narendra Modi, Australia, Scotland, Greece, Spain, all of them acted by early afternon.

Netanyahu finally congratulated Biden and Harris at 12:03 a.m. the next day:

Congratulations @JoeBiden and @KamalaHarris. Joe, we’ve had a long & warm personal relationship for nearly 40 years, and I know you as a great friend of Israel. I look forward to working with both of you to further strengthen the special alliance between the U.S. and Israel.

Well, maybe Netanyahu went a little too far in that recognition — so he quickly made it a point to thank Trump, at 12:17 a.m.

Thank you @realDonaldTrump for the friendship you have shown the state of Israel and me personally, for recognizing Jerusalem and the Golan, for standing up to Iran, for the historic peace accords and for bringing the American-Israeli alliance to unprecedented heights.

Netanyahu repeated both statements at this morning‘s Cabinet meeting. And P.S.: the U.S. gives Israel more aid than any other country, at a $4 billion-a-year level, established by the Obama-Biden presidency.

Netanyahu, who is domestically on a political razor’s edge against other components of the Israeli right, also knows that an overwhelming majority of his constituency, Israeli Jews, are going to be as disappointed as he is that Trump lost.

What can Netanyahu hope for from the lame duck president? A greenlight on more and more settlements, and even on measures that make annexation of the West Bank a fait accompli, and more pressure for Arab countries to sign on to normalization deals. He wants every last bit of support for Israeli apartheid that he can get from Trump in the 10 weeks of transition before Joe Biden takes the oath of office. To Netanyahu’s dismay, he sees that Trump so far is paralyzed by the bad news, and may be incapable of any policymaking in weeks to come.

P.S. The American press continues to cover up the overwhelming enthusiasm of Israeli Jews for Donald Trump, a man regarded rightly as having made life for Jews in America more dangerous.