JERUSALEM–For three hours, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of Israel held forth on all sorts of topics–on Israel and the Middle East, on his record and on his plans. One subject that Mr. Netanyahu studiously avoided in his expansive conversation with American visitors last weekend, though, was the United States election.
Much of the rest of the world is absorbed by the contest between Donald J. Trump and Hillary Clinton, but it is a topic Mr. Netanyahu will not touch. Four years after he was accused of meddling on behalf of President Obama’s opponent, the hardly bashful Israeli leader this time has taken a virtual vow of silence.
The unusual reticence comes after years of toxic relations between him and Mr. Obama, culminating in a public feud over the American-brokered nuclear agreement with Iran. With Mr. Netanyahu seemingly aligning himself during that fight with Mr. Obama’s Republican critics, some Israel backers feared the country was squandering its traditional bipartisan support. The prime minister now seems intent on extricating himself from the partisan tussle.
“Everybody understands here in Israel that the most important thing for us is to go back to where we were for the last 68 years, which is bipartisan,” said Yair Lapid, a centrist party leader who hopes to succeed Mr. Netanyahu. “This is why nobody will take sides in a presidential campaign.”[Dennis -But back in 1963 President John F. Kennedy was doing all that he could to stop Israel from developing the atom bomb and the Israelis didn't like it, In fact Michael Collins Piper's book, The Final Judgment, provides evidence in support of the theory that JFK was assassinated in a combined Mossad/CIA operation. JFK became an obstacle both to Israel's development of the atomic bomb and (since JFK was planning to withdraw from Vietnam) to the continuation of the CIA's heroin-smuggling operations in South-East Asia which was the financing for the CIA's covert illegal operations. You could watch him speak at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2utTWSdq8YY]
But if Israel is staying away from the American campaign, the campaign is staying away from Israel, too. While it was an occasional topic during primary debates, it has been all but absent from the discussion in the general election.
In part, that reflects a high-octane campaign of invective that has overlooked many policy questions. But it also underscores the plethora of other issues that have seized Washington’s attention, principally the rise of the Islamic State, the war in Syria and relations with Russia. The Israeli-Palestinian dispute seems to be slipping to a second-tier issue.
During his meeting last weekend with a bipartisan delegation of former American national security officials, Mr. Netanyahu expressed concern about the United States’ pulling back from the region.
Dennis Ross, a Middle East adviser to Mr. Obama and other presidents who organized the visit, said afterward, “Everyone feels they have a stake in the election, and they want an America that will be engaged and that will be effective in the region.”
Still, Mr. Netanyahu scrupulously avoided addressing the election itself. “I think we were all struck by the fact that it wasn’t raised,” said Meghan O’Sullivan, a former adviser to President George W. Bush. Similarly, Mr. Netanyahu skirted the issue during a meeting last week with Senators Tim Scott, Republican of South Carolina, and Cory Booker, Democrat of New Jersey.
What a difference four years makes. In 2012, Mr. Netanyahu hosted Mitt Romney, Mr. Obama’s challenger, in Jerusalem and lavished praise on him. While Mr. Netanyahu’s team then denied any effort to influence the election, Mr. Obama’s camp was convinced otherwise. The rift widened when Mr. Netanyahu accepted a Republican invitation to address Congress in 2015 to assail Mr. Obama’s efforts to negotiate a deal with Iran curbing its nuclear program.
Nachman Shai, who heads a parliamentary caucus on Israeli-American relations, said Mr. Netanyahu had steered away since then from openly courting Republicans. “Because he had these tough eight years with Obama, he can’t afford it again,” Mr. Shai said. “He needs a direct line with the U.S. president.”
Even Mr. Trump’s Aipac speech vowing to dismantle the Iran agreement was greeted with silence in Jerusalem. “If Bibi was going in any way to support or give Trump some type of compliment, that would have been the time to do it,” Gadi Wolfsfeld, a scholar at Hebrew University, said at the time, using Mr. Netanyahu’s nickname.
Israel Hayom, the newspaper financed by the American casino magnate Sheldon Adelson, an ally of Mr. Netanyahu, championed Mr. Trump with a blast of positive coverage at the time. But like Mr. Adelson himself, who has endorsed Mr. Trump without following through on promises of large contributions, the paper has not been the unrestrained cheerleader some expected.
Mr. Netanyahu and Mr. Obama have tried lately to put their difficulties behind them by negotiating a 10-year American security aid package for Israel. The deal is all but complete, and the White House has been discussing how to announce it. The two leaders will both attend the United Nations General Assembly conclave this month, but it seems most likely that it would be signed by lower-level officials.
But to Mr. Netanyahu’s consternation, administration officials are still debating whether the president will lay down a final marker before the end of his time in office on the Israeli-Palestinian impasse, perhaps with a speech outlining terms for an agreement or even a United Nations resolution. Some argue it would be a way to stop waiting for the two sides to finally step up; others consider it a fruitless waste of the president’s waning time in office. [Dennis - The Holy Covenant mentioned in the prophecies of Daniel and referred to by Jesus in His mention of the "abomination of desolation" is an important end-time event which begins the last seven years. Jesus' mentions its breaking in his end-time sermon as a warning sign for the beginning the Great tribulation. Bible prophecy seems to indicate that the Antichrist will be involved in the making of the Holy Covenant and in its breaking. Whether it will be a United Nations resolution remains to be scene.]
Mr. Netanyahu’s office declined to comment this week on the American election. Over the summer, the prime minister told reporters “it’s not smart to interfere,” saying he would be “happy to work with whoever gets elected.”
He has made clear to advisers that they should not discuss the election even in private. Dani Dayan, the normally outspoken Israeli consul general in New York, articulated the official line in an interview with The New York Times Editorial Board last month: “Any American president is good for Israel.” [Dennis - The Bible tells us the ships of Chittim (i.e.,Cyprus, where the American's have an important NATO naval base) will attack the Antichrist forces in the Middle East. Because of this military maneuver, the Antichrist breaks the Holy Covenant and with the help of Muslim countries makes a full scale invasion of Israel. This is the warning sign Jesus gave as the beginning of the Great Tribulation, the last 3 1/2 years preceding the rapture and the Battle of Armageddon, which seems to indicate WWIII. At the end of this period, Babylon the Whore is destroyed which could very possibly be the American Empire. A nuclear attack against key places in America, like New York City's financial center in lower Manhattan could very well lead to the 1/3 destruction of humanity predicted in the Bible. The northern hemisphere would become a desolation and the prophecies about the sun and the moon turning colors and or not giving their light could be fulfilled by nuclear debris in the atmosphere. Conclusion, Jesus' predicted return is the only hope for humanity who are headed blindly, yet with their eyes wide-open, full long into the eve of destruction.]
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