This article originally appeared on The Media Line.
Israeli Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu is set to meet President Obama in Washington for their first meeting in 13 months. Indications from both sides are that the men, despite their difficult relationship in the past, will not show any sign of discord in their meeting.
“On the issue of military aid, both sides are interested in moving forward,” Owen Alterman, a senior research fellow at the Institute for National Security Studies (INSS) at Tel Aviv University told The Media Line. “Netanyahu will also be bringing confidence-building measures for the Palestinians. That’s not to say that they will agree on everything, but both sides want to have a constructive meeting.”
It is the first face-to-face encounter between the two leaders since the Iran nuclear deal, which Netanyahu bitterly opposed, and did everything he could to get Congress to vote against it. But both men seem determined to move on from there, and rebuild their relationship.
“My conversation with the president will center on recent events in the Middle East, including in Syria, possible progress with the Palestinians, or at least stabilizing the situation with them, and, of course, strengthening the security of the State of Israel, which the US has always been committed to, while maintaining the State of Israel's comparative advantage in the face of a changing Middle East and a cycle that changes less,” Netanyahu said after his cabinet meeting. “I believe that this meeting is important in order to clarify the continuation of American aid to Israel in the coming decade. It will be another step toward realizing an understanding in this direction.”
The US currently gives Israel $3 billion annually in economic and military aid. According to Israeli press reports, Israel would like that amount to increase to $5 billion annually, and wants to sign a ten-year-agreement to that effect. US Administration officials have hinted that number may be too high, but have said they are committed to maintaining Israel’s qualitative military edge.
“What will not be controversial is extending and increasing the military aid Israel receives from the US and intelligence cooperation on Iran,” Jonathan Rynhold, of the Begin-Sadat Center for Strategic Studies at Bar Ilan University told The Media Line. “The US will supply more anti-missile systems and early warning devices.”
Israel, he said, is looking for an “insurance policy” in case Iran does not uphold its promise to sharply roll back its nuclear policy. Israel also wants US permission to attack Iran if needed, and perhaps an American promise to join that attack.
There are also expected to be tensions over Netanyahu’s announcement over his new PR chief, Ron Baratz, who is on record of accusing President Obama of anti-Semitism, and Secretary of State John Kerry of immaturity. Baratz, who had been expected to accompany Netanyahu on the trip, was unceremoniously kicked off the plane, but Netanyahu has refused so far to take back the appointment.
Rynhold said that it is possible that Netanyahu’s office had not investigated Baratz closely enough, and that Netanyahu’s statement saying that the statements did not reflect his policy, should be enough to calm the situation. But other Israeli analysts said Netanyahu should fire Baratz.
“If it wasn’t so sad, we could laugh about the inability of the Prime Minister’s office to make logical appointments – the man is simply not up to the job,” Yehuda Ben Meir, an expert on public opinion at INSS told The Media Line. “Now there is a lot of opposition within the government to his appointment as well and I doubt Netanyahu will go forward with it.”
He agreed with both Rynhold and Alterman that the US-Israeli relationship is as strong as ever, and surpasses any personal tensions between Netanyahu and Obama.
