The News
Republicans are in a place where they prefer to see Democrats: caught in a bind on US-Israel relations.
Many GOP lawmakers don’t like the tense dynamic between President Donald Trump and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on the Iran war, particularly the rift between them that reopened over the weekend. Trump publicly told Netanyahu not to retaliate against Iran only to watch Netanyahu briefly forge ahead anyway.
The Republican Congress — filled with Netanyahu fans and hawks eager to align with Israel — winced. Some lawmakers openly prodded Netanyahu on Monday to move closer to the US by seeking to bolster negotiations on winding down the war.
Trump “wants to do the right thing for the United States of America. It’s always America First. And so I appreciate that he takes that perspective to the negotiating table. I would like to see Netanyahu come together a little bit more with President Trump,” said Sen. Joni Ernst, R-Iowa, a hawkish Republican.
Sen. Tommy Tuberville, R-Ala., a close Trump ally, likened the leaders to “two brothers fighting all the time” but said that Netanyahu “needs us; you know they do. They’ve always needed us.”
Republicans are in an awkward spot as Trump tries to extract a deal from Iran that he and his party can sell as a victory. Israel and the United States have moved in alignment for months, but that tight relationship frayed recently, from Trump’s expletive-riddled call with Netanyahu earlier this month to Israel striking Iran despite Trump’s wishes on Sunday.
The two nations tried to smooth over those public disagreements on Monday, but a party that reveled in Democrats’ divisions on Israel now must endure Trump and Netanyahu in a stressful, often public push-pull. After Trump said “I call the shots,” Netanyahu pushed back by asserting “every right to self defense.”
Senate Majority Leader John Thune said on Monday that “hopefully there’ll be coordination … generally, my experience is that that’s talked through and worked out in advance of that sort of [military] action. So, I hope that will be the pattern and the business model going forward.”
“We need to be looking out for our national interests first and foremost, and I do believe that our interests and Israel’s are largely overlapping,” said Rep. Kevin Kiley, I-Calif., “Coordination has been vital. There might be … differences of opinion from time to time.”
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Israel has clashed with Iran and with the Lebanese government for decades, long before the ascension of Hezbollah to a central role in the latter. That creates what some Republicans see as misaligned political pressures for Trump and Netayahu.
“I don’t think it’s realistic to think we can control other leaders who certainly have different interests in different constituencies,” said Sen. John Cornyn, R-Texas. “It’s always better when we are together, because we’re allies against a common adversary. And we’re more effective. Fighting among ourselves is not useful.”
For others, coordination with Israel doesn’t mean Trump should shy away from retaliating when Iran attacks US allies like Israel or Kuwait.
“They deserve to be punched in the nose,” said Rep. Don Bacon, R-Neb. “You can’t let Iran attack their neighbors and Israel without some kind of response.”
Neither the White House nor the Israeli embassy returned a request for comment.
Room for Disagreement
Sen. Lisa Murkowski, R-Alaska, who has recently voted against continuing the war with Iran, nonetheless said she’s “not worried that somehow or other, because there was a statement, that all of a sudden there’s a huge rift.
“Do we really think that we’ve been 100% in alignment with Israel all throughout this? No. So say it. Maybe don’t drop the F-bomb; talk to one another,” she told Semafor. “I don’t feel like I should get all excited because it looked like there’s a rift. There’s a war, right?”
Burgess and Nicholas’ View
As Democrats soured on Netanyahu’s leadership over the past three years in protest of the Israeli campaign in Gaza, Republicans have sought to amplify their ties to his government.
Which makes even Monday’s subtle pushes for better coordination with Israel very notable, given the usual lack of daylight between the GOP and Netanyahu.
Reading between the lines of some Republicans’ comments, they appear to see Trump as far more eager to end the war than Netanyahu. And that could be a problem for any nascent deal between the United States and Iran.
Notable
- Israel pulled back for now from a broader attack on Monday, Axios reported.
Shelby Talcott contributed.