Trump Or Biden? Who Is Tel Aviv’s Choice?

From the American side, the powerful presence of strong Zionist pro-Israeli lobbies in the US decision-making structures encourages the American candidates and politicians to especially cherish Israeli regime's interests and seek close relations with Tel Aviv. 

However, less than three months to the American presidential election, it looks that there is no unity of views among the Zionist circles on whether to support the Democratic candidate Joe Biden or continue their backing for President Donald Trump. In fact, this disunity promotes a question? Who does the Israeli regime favor to see at the White House for the next four years as president? 

Definitely, Trump's holding of the White House has been unprecedentedly triumphant for the Israeli aggressive and illegitimate greed for the Palestinian lands and also enabling the Israelis to breach the historic agreements signed with the Palestinians. 

In December 2017, the Trump administration recognized al-Quds (Jerusalem) as the capital of a Jewish state and relocated the embassy from Tel Aviv to the city, ignoring Palestinian claims over the Eastern part of the city as their capital. Trump did what his predecessors feared to do despite a Congress bill asking the US government in 1995 for recognition. 

Three months later, Trump administration also in another controversial favor for the Israelis recognized the annexation of Syrian occupied Golan Heights to the occupied Palestinian territories by Prime Minister Netanyahu. The Syrian territory was occupied by the Israeli regime in the 1967 Six-Day War and was administered as Israeli territory since 1981. Trump’s recognition was a blow to the international laws and UN Security Council resolution and brought extreme glee to the Israeli regime. 

Moreover, during Trump's presidency, the Persian Gulf Arab monarchies underwent strenuous pressure to normalize diplomatic relations with Tel Aviv and terminate the decades-old Palestinian cause under “the deal of the century” which seeks Arab backing to American recognition of occupation and rejection of the Palestinian refugees right for return. The outcome was the UAE normalization with the Israeli regime two weeks ago and the Saudi, Sudanese, Oman, and Bahrain openness to follow in Abu Dhabi’s footsteps. 

But the reality is not as simple as hanging Trump's large propaganda posters in the occupied territories. Behind the scenes. Trump several times has taken aback the Israelis with surprise demands and remarks. The latest was his plan to sell the UAE F-35 stealth fighters jets, triggering open Israeli objection. Trump insisted that he is ready to go ahead with the deal. 

Netanyahu is now between a rock and a hard place. He cannot openly attack his close friend and prefers to settle the case quietly. The documents and reports show that Washington and Abu Dhabi have long been in talks about the delivery of the state-of-the-art jets. 

In relation to moving of the embassy to al-Quds, Trump very brazenly on August 18 said that he did the job “for the evangelicals” adding that they are “more excited by that than the Jewish people.” Anti-Semitic beliefs and tendencies have already taken hold among this category of Christians. 

It is right that under Trump Tel Aviv realized part of its expansionist and aggressive plans, it is in Trump's period that the already-gloomy global vision of the Israeli regime worsened. Almost none of the European countries supported the Netanyahu West Bank annexation plan or recognized his annexation of Golan Heights. They even did not welcome moving the embassy. In fact, Trump moves have globally isolated the Israeli regime, regardless of some show normalization steps taken by some reactionary Arab countries. 

Additionally, as a result of Trump's measures, all Palestinian groups are now united at least in firm rejection of the deal of the century. They are now against the restart of the negotiations and the so-called peace process and the US has lost its credibility as a mediator among them. During Trump's presidency, the resistant groups disclosed the fragility of the Israeli security and the American strategy failed in blocking ways of their further armament. 

By a look at the American policy we can see that since the creation of the Israeli regime, no American government, both Democratic and Republican, has opposed the Israeli aggression and on the contrary encouraged its regional hostility. So, Tel Aviv is thinking about a change to stabilize its achievements under an administration more acceptable than Trump’s on the international arena and to once again deceive the Palestinians into returning to negotiating table. 

Therefore, a scenario in which Tel Aviv quietly anticipates Biden to assume the White House is thinkable. Biden’s running mate, Kamala Harris, has a long record of support to Tel Aviv. She had a strong role in the facilitation of US aids to the Israeli regime and opposition to offering strategic arms to Tel Aviv foes. 

In 2016, Biden essentially helped advance an aid package to the Israeli regime worth $38 billion in 10 years when he was vice president. The aid was largest in the history of the US. 

Biden not only does not object to Trump’s pressures on the Arabs to normalize with Tel Aviv but also tried to claim credit for the progress of the Israeli-Arab normalization. He said that the normalization is a legacy of several administrations, including Obama. This assures the Israelis that the domain of the Biden-Trump differences will not cover the Israeli interests. Clearly, the Israelis will not put all their eggs in Trump’s basket and have a look to Biden too.