ANALYSIS: Isaac Herzog White House Invitation Another Snub to Netanyahu

Isaac Herzog speaks at the AIPAC Policy Conference in Washington on March 27, 2017. (Manuel Balce Ceneta/AP Photo)

News Analysis

House Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) announced on June 29 that Israeli President Isaac Herzog will address a joint meeting of Congress on July 19. Reportedly, Mr. Herzog will meet with U.S. President Joe Biden—a continuation of Mr. Biden’s snubbing of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

In March, Mr. Biden said that he wouldn’t invite Mr. Netanyahu to the White House “in the near term” because of Mr. Netanyahu’s attempt to change Israel’s judiciary, an effort that’s opposed by Mr. Herzog. In response to Mr. Biden shutting the door on a meeting with Mr. Netanyahu in the near future, Mr. McCarthy said that he would invite Mr. Netanyahu to Congress if Mr. Biden doesn’t reverse course.

“If that doesn’t happen, I'll invite the prime minister to come meet with the House,” Mr. McCarthy told the newspaper Israel Hayom.

“He’s a dear friend, as a prime minister of a country that we have our closest ties with.”

Mr. McCarthy visited Israel in May and became the second sitting speaker to address the Knesset, Israel’s parliament.

Mr. McCarthy’s possible invitation to Mr. Netanyahu is reminiscent of the 2015 invitation that then-House Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio) extended to Mr. Netanyahu to address a joint session of Congress, which Mr. Netanyahu accepted and then used to warn Congress about the then-pending Iran nuclear deal. Mr. Netanyahu’s visit was boycotted by then-President Barack Obama and his administration, under whom Mr. Biden served as vice president. It’s unclear if Mr. Netanyahu would give a joint address to Congress were he to be invited by Mr. McCarthy.

A Slap in the Face

The expected meeting between Mr. Biden and Mr. Herzog is a slap in the face to Mr. Netanyahu, prominent members of the Jewish community told The Epoch Times.

Bryan Leib, a Republican who’s head of CASEPAC, which supports federal office candidates dedicated to fighting antisemitism, noted that Mr. Netanyahu, not Mr. Herzog, is Israel’s head of government. Mr. Herzog is Israel’s head of state.

“Prime Minister Netanyahu is the leader of the State of Israel, so inviting anyone other than Netanyahu to represent the State of Israel on an official visit is a direct shot across the bow of Netanyahu from the Biden administration,” he said.

“The Biden administration has shown us in words and actions that they are far more interested in throwing shade at the Netanyahu government than embracing them and working together to expand the Trump-era Abraham Accords,” Mr. Leib said, referring to the 2020 U.S.-brokered peace accords between Israel and the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain, Sudan, and Morocco.

The Biden administration announced last week that former U.S. Ambassador to Israel Daniel Shapiro would be its point person on the Abraham Accords, looking to further them.

The upcoming visit by Mr. Herzog wouldn’t be controversial were it not for Mr. Biden blacklisting Mr. Netanyahu, said Shoshana Bryen, senior director of the Jewish Policy Center.

“If, for example, there had been a relationship between Herzog and Biden from the ‘old days,’ no one would question it,” she said. “It is Biden’s blatant disrespect for Netanyahu that makes it important.”

While Mr. McCarthy may be inviting Mr. Herzog to speak before Congress, don’t take it as a signal that Mr. McCarthy is aiding and abetting Mr. Biden’s snub of Mr. Netanyahu, Ms. Bryen said.

“I don’t think McCarthy is abetting Biden; he’s making the best of a situation,” she said.

“I suspect Biden decided to undercut McCarthy by inviting Herzog as much as he thinks he’s undercutting Netanyahu by inviting [Herzog]. If there is an invitation out to Herzog, then McCarthy would look bad inviting Netanyahu to swoop in and ’take Herzog’s place.'”

“In this case, timing is everything. Biden will think he’s won one here, and he may not be wrong,” Ms. Bryen said. “McCarthy is doing the right thing by ignoring any possible domestic issue and responding to an invitation to the president of an allied nation by giving him a platform in Congress. Good for him.”

Mr. Herzog’s visit comes as the Biden administration has come under fire—mainly from the right—over reportedly resuming talks with Iran on an interim nuclear deal to no longer allow funding for research in Israeli neighborhoods in Judea and Samaria, also known as the West Bank. While Israel has come under fire over its response to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, it has provided humanitarian and nonlethal military assistance to Kiev.

The trip also comes after Israel recently conducted an anti-terrorism operation in Jenin, a city in the West Bank that’s notorious for harboring Palestinian terrorists.

Zionist Organization of America’s Mort Klein decried what he called “a conspicuous insult” by Mr. Biden to Mr. Netanyahu in that the president of the Jewish state is a ceremonial role. He also said that the invitation sends “a phony message” that the administration isn’t anti-Israel.

At the end of the day, Mr. Leib said, “McCarthy should follow through on the promise he made in Jerusalem earlier this year to invite Netanyahu to Washington.

“If Biden isn’t going to recognize Israel’s leader, then McCarthy is in a prime position to do this. He has the power to make it happen.”