Biden Abandons Middle East Peace canadafreepress.com - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from canadafreepress.com Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.
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NEW YORK In 2017, Israeli Ambassador to the US Ron Dermer gave a speech to a new organization formed to bolster Jewish support for the Democratic Party.
Addressing the fledgling group, the envoy stressed the importance of initiatives that strengthen both Republicans’ and Democrats’ solidarity with the Jewish state, ensuring that the US-Israel relationship can remain a matter of bipartisan consensus.
Dermer told the crowd he needed the support of both parties to effectively pilot the US-Israel relationship.
“You cannot fly a plane with one wing,” he said.
For over seven years as ambassador, Dermer, 49, helped steer the US-Israel relationship through the turbulence of Democratic President Barack Obama’s second term followed by the friendlier skies of Republican Donald Trump’s administration, when Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu found a partner in Washington with whom he was politically aligned.
With the incoming Biden administration expected to return to diplomacy with Iran to revive the 2015 nuclear deal, Israel and some Gulf states are hoping to be involved in future US-Iran negotiations.
Joe Biden has said he plans to return to the nuclear deal, known as the JCPOA, and work on follow-on negotiations that address other issues after the fact. Iran is willing to return to compliance with the JCPOA in exchange for sanctions relief. But Iranian officials have made it clear they have no interest in negotiating any additional deals until the JCPOA is revived.
Israel and Gulf states like the UAE, Bahrain, and Saudi Arabia oppose the JCPOA and believe the US should seek a stricter deal. Since Bahrain and the UAE recently signed normalization agreements with Israel, they could have more sway in Washington.