Biden treats Netanyahu worse than Iran, ‘WSJ’ charges ahead of Herzog visit

US President Joe Biden has lashed out at Israel more than at Iran, the Wall Street Journal charged ahead of a Washington visit by President Isaac Herzog this week to celebrate 75 years of ties between the two countries.

“At least rhetorically, the president and his administration treat Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his governing coalition worse than they do the ruling mullahs in Iran,” the WSJ wrote in an editorial it published on Friday.

“This is no way to treat a democratic ally and no way to pursue US interests while Mr. Netanyahu’s Likud Party is in power, as it has been for most of the past 25 years,” the WSJ stated.

The editorial’s strong positive stance toward Israel and Netanyahu was part of its larger critique of Biden’s Middle East policies, which the WSJ said had strengthened China and Iran and weakened the US position in the region.

It took issue in particular with Biden’s failure to reach a deal with Saudi Arabia – that includes the normalization of ties with Israel – and its push to finalize a weak agreement with Iran that would not reduce its nuclear weapons capacity.

The Biden administration has been “reduced to floating an unwritten, stopgap agreement that would give Tehran tens of billions of dollars to sit on the precipice of nuclear breakout,” the WSJ wrote.

Biden is “staying Israel’s hand and reshaping the region with Iran on board. Alas for the US, the enemy gets a say. While Tehran escalates its proxy wars and whittles down US nuclear demands, Mr. Biden carries out diplomatic offensives against Saudi Arabia and Israel,” the WSJ said.

It blamed Iran’s growing influence among Palestinian terror groups in the West Bank on these failed policies, including its criticism.

The Biden administration’s treatment of Israel, the WSJ explained, is another symptom of the problem, including its stances that undermine Israel’s legitimate connection to the West Bank and Jerusalem by treating them as “occupied territory.”

“How does it advance peace to indulge Palestinians in the belief that Jews are interlopers in Judea and at the Western Wall?” the WSJ asked.

The editorial took a neutral stance on Israel’s judicial overhaul plan as it criticized the Biden administration’s opposition to it, explaining that the question of how Israel’s democracy should be executed was an internal matter.

“Why does President Biden go out of his way to snub, criticize, and give marching orders to the government of Israel?” the paper asked.

It chastised statements outgoing US Ambassador to Israel Tom Nides has made in interviews, stating he was working to stop Israel from “going off the rails” and urging Netanyahu to “pump the brakes,” noting that he spoke as if giving instructions to a chauffeur.

Biden's treatment of Netanyahu in light of Herzog's upcoming visit

It noted, in particular, Biden’s personal snub of Netanyahu by stating publicly that he would not invite him to the White House, an issue that came up again during an interview he gave last week to CNN in which he failed to affirm that an invitation would be forthcoming.

The paper published its editorial at the end of a week in which it interviewed Nides and CNN interviewed Biden and days before Herzog is set to fly to Washington.

Herzog, who has opposed the process by which the overhaul plan has been promised and how has held compromise talks, has been a more acceptable figure to the Biden administration.

During his time in Washington, Herzog will meet with Biden at the White House on Tuesday and with Vice President Kamala Harris on Wednesday, for what is his second trip to Washington since Biden became president in 2021. Herzog was last in the White House in October of 2022.

Among the key features of this trip will also be an address to a joint session of Congress, something which his father Chaim Herzog also did 35 years ago in 1987 to celebrate Israel’s 40th anniversary when he was Israel’s president.

The last Israeli to address a joint session was Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in 2015, who used the platform to urge Congress to oppose the Iran deal former US president Barack Obama was advancing.

Herzog, whose trip is designated to be celebratory, arrives at a time when Israel and the US are once more at odds over Iran, as the Biden administration is seeking to stop Tehran’s drive for a nuclear weapons program through diplomacy.

Israel believes that the agreement under discussion will strengthen, not weaken Iran. On Thursday, Netanyahu met with Herzog to underscore Israel’s red lines on the topic.

A small number of Democrats have pledged to boycott Herzog’s speech to protest Israeli policies, particularly toward the Palestinians. Democratic Reps. Ilhan Omar of Minnesota, Cori Bush of Missouri, Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez of New York, and Jamaal Bowman, also from New York, have said they will skip the event.