Biden administration updates Zionist leaders on Bennett meetings, foreign policy

The Biden administration held a short telephone call with leaders of American Jewish organizations on Aug. 27, giving them a general outline of the meetings between U.S. President Joe Biden and Israeli Prime Minister Naftali Bennett earlier that day.

In the off-the-record call, which lasted around half an hour, White House Senior Director for the Middle East and North Africa Barbara Leaf briefed the organizational leaders on how the meetings went and answered four questions, according to sources familiar with the call.

A source familiar with the call has claimed that the impression from the call was that the administration was interested in showing that the meeting between the two leaders went well and is creating a solid groundwork for future negotiations, and that there is a new spirit of cooperation between the two leaders, as opposed to the somewhat contentious relationship between former Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and the Obama administration.

Bennett wanted to demonstrate that he can be “prime ministerial” like his predecessor, while Biden needed to show that despite the crisis in Afghanistan, he is able to conduct foreign diplomacy and that the U.S. is still important in the Middle East, according to a source.

The call did not delve deep into specifics on Iran besides, but a major direction change for both leaders was a pledge not to be public with criticisms of each other’s policies towards Iran.

No additional information about the alternative plan Bennett presented to Biden was provided during the call, but it was clear from both the call and the readouts provided by the White House that the Biden administration has not given up on trying to reenter the 2015 Iran nuclear deal.

During their White House meeting, Biden told Bennett that “we’re putting diplomacy first and seeing where that takes us.” However, the president did note that if diplomacy fails, “we’re ready to turn to other options.”

The groups on the call included representatives from The Jewish Federations of North America, the Conference of Presidents of Major American Jewish Organizations, B’nai B’rith International, Israel Policy Forum, Americans for Peace Now and others.