Big Tent Ideas

SHOSHANA BRYEN: Biden Admin Needs Israel, With Or Without Netanyahu

RONEN ZVULUN/POOL/AFP via Getty Images

Daily Caller News Foundation logo
Shoshana Bryen Contributor
Font Size:

The disaffection of the Biden administration for the new Israeli government led by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is public. State Department briefings are routinely taken over by people hostile to Israel who are allowed to make speeches as much as ask questions; the pushback is minimal.

And the reporting on the first telephone call between Secretary of State Antony Blinken and Foreign Minister Eli Cohen was said to have stressed the American goal of a “two state solution” with the Palestinians along with a not-very-veiled warning to Israel about jeopardizing the U.S. plan. (RELATED: CRAIG RUCKER: The Climate Cabal Has Plans For You)

That would be expected. But reports (here and here, among others) indicate that Blinken also gave Cohen a message for Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov, which Cohen then passed on.

The idea of the Israeli government having an opening phone call with Russia in the middle of the Ukraine war vastly irritated Sen. Lindsay Graham, a strong supporter of Ukraine, who had unpleasant words for Jerusalem. American foreign policy requirements, however, include, but go beyond Ukraine.

Israel has become a pivotal player for the United States in recent months as regards threats posed to the Middle East and Persian Gulf by Iran. And more so since the discovery of Iranian drones with American parts in the Russian arsenal. Following a months-long series of joint exercises and meetings, the U.S. sent six fighter jets to an Israeli military base to conduct joint drills simulating strikes deep in “enemy territory.” That might be Iranian territory.

U.S. National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan held a teleconference with his Israeli counterparts asking for help in exposing Iran’s technology acquisition network. Israel has been very effective in collecting information inside Iran and has carried out a number of successful operations targeting the regime.

This week, State Department spokesperson Ned Price sang a different tune.

“We have absolutely had discussions with our Israeli partners regarding the threat presented by Iranian UAV technology and the proliferation of Iranian UAV technology to countries around the world, including Russia … We’re looking to harmonize our approach with countries, allies and partners, around the world to see to it that we are taking a coordinated approach to disrupt this pipeline of technology from Iran to Russia and other malign actors.”

In sum, you have American priorities — Iran, Russia, technology, boosted by a coordinated approach with Israel. (China’s acquisition of American technology fits in here as well, but, for the moment, stick with the theme.)

How does this affect American support for Ukraine?

The U.S. is, in some respects, a side player in the Russia-Ukraine war — the biggest financier, biggest arms provider, and biggest cheerleader, but with no actual skin in the game. Literally: no troops, no skin.

And despite the hero’s welcome Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelenskyy received at the Capitol, there has been no public administration acceptance of his position that Russia has to leave all of Ukrainian territory including Crimea, which was occupied in 2014 with no objection from the U.S., plus reparations plus war crimes trials.

If, on the other hand, the U.S. seeks a negotiated settlement that includes some of Ukraine’s demands plus assurances against the use of nuclear weapons in Europe plus an end to the burgeoning Russia-Iranian military alliance, talking to Russia, distasteful as that might seem, is necessary.

But Washington cannot call Moscow… can it?

Israel can.

The 2005 book “Every War Must End,” by the late Fred Ikle, is making a comeback. Called a “classic” by Amazon, the slender volume posits that every war will, indeed, end — if not with a military victory, then by grinding along until one side or the other is ready to stop fighting and find a “political settlement.” Former President Franklin Delano Roosevelt’s demand to Dwight Eisenhower for the unconditional surrender of Nazi Germany vs Vietnam, Iraq and Afghanistan.

U.S. policy is muddled here — seeming to give Zelenskyy support for his maximalist objectives, i.e., victory, while simultaneously looking for a political settlement that would have as much to do with Iran as with Russia. It is more than possible that the message Eli Cohen passed to Sergei Lavrov was a set of terms, a mechanism and a threat of escalation, all designed to end the war.

As every war must end.

Shoshana Bryen is Senior Director of The Jewish Policy Center and Editor of inFOCUS Quarterly.

The views and opinions expressed in this commentary are those of the author and do not reflect the official position of the Daily Caller News Foundation.

All content created by the Daily Caller News Foundation, an independent and nonpartisan newswire service, is available without charge to any legitimate news publisher that can provide a large audience. All republished articles must include our logo, our reporter’s byline and their DCNF affiliation. For any questions about our guidelines or partnering with us, please contact licensing@dailycallernewsfoundation.org.

PREMIUM ARTICLE: Subscribe To Keep Reading

Sign up

By subscribing you agree to our Terms of Use

You're signed up!

Sign up

By subscribing you agree to our Terms of Use

You're signed up!
Sign up

By subscribing you agree to our Terms of Use

You're signed up!

Sign up

By subscribing you agree to our Terms of Use

You're signed up!
Sign up

By subscribing you agree to our Terms of Use

You're signed up!

Sign Up

By subscribing you agree to our Terms of Use

You're signed up!
Sign up

By subscribing you agree to our Terms of Use

You're signed up!
Sign up

By subscribing you agree to our Terms of Use

You're signed up!
BENEFITS READERS PASS PATRIOTS FOUNDERS
Daily and Breaking Newsletters
Daily Caller Shows
Ad Free Experience
Exclusive Articles
Custom Newsletters
Editor Daily Rundown
Behind The Scenes Coverage
Award Winning Documentaries
Patriot War Room
Patriot Live Chat
Exclusive Events
Gold Membership Card
Tucker Mug

What does Founders Club include?

Tucker Mug and Membership Card
Founders

Readers,

Instead of sucking up to the political and corporate powers that dominate America, The Daily Caller is fighting for you — our readers. We humbly ask you to consider joining us in this fight.

Now that millions of readers are rejecting the increasingly biased and even corrupt corporate media and joining us daily, there are powerful forces lined up to stop us: the old guard of the news media hopes to marginalize us; the big corporate ad agencies want to deprive us of revenue and put us out of business; senators threaten to have our reporters arrested for asking simple questions; the big tech platforms want to limit our ability to communicate with you; and the political party establishments feel threatened by our independence.

We don't complain -- we can't stand complainers -- but we do call it how we see it. We have a fight on our hands, and it's intense. We need your help to smash through the big tech, big media and big government blockade.

We're the insurgent outsiders for a reason: our deep-dive investigations hold the powerful to account. Our original videos undermine their narratives on a daily basis. Even our insistence on having fun infuriates them -- because we won’t bend the knee to political correctness.

One reason we stand apart is because we are not afraid to say we love America. We love her with every fiber of our being, and we think she's worth saving from today’s craziness.

Help us save her.

A second reason we stand out is the sheer number of honest responsible reporters we have helped train. We have trained so many solid reporters that they now hold prominent positions at publications across the political spectrum. Hear a rare reasonable voice at a place like CNN? There’s a good chance they were trained at Daily Caller. Same goes for the numerous Daily Caller alumni dominating the news coverage at outlets such as Fox News, Newsmax, Daily Wire and many others.

Simply put, America needs solid reporters fighting to tell the truth or we will never have honest elections or a fair system. We are working tirelessly to make that happen and we are making a difference.

Since 2010, The Daily Caller has grown immensely. We're in the halls of Congress. We're in the Oval Office. And we're in up to 20 million homes every single month. That's 20 million Americans like you who are impossible to ignore.

We can overcome the forces lined up against all of us. This is an important mission but we can’t do it unless you — the everyday Americans forgotten by the establishment — have our back.

Please consider becoming a Daily Caller Patriot today, and help us keep doing work that holds politicians, corporations and other leaders accountable. Help us thumb our noses at political correctness. Help us train a new generation of news reporters who will actually tell the truth. And help us remind Americans everywhere that there are millions of us who remain clear-eyed about our country's greatness.

In return for membership, Daily Caller Patriots will be able to read The Daily Caller without any of the ads that we have long used to support our mission. We know the ads drive you crazy. They drive us crazy too. But we need revenue to keep the fight going. If you join us, we will cut out the ads for you and put every Lincoln-headed cent we earn into amplifying our voice, training even more solid reporters, and giving you the ad-free experience and lightning fast website you deserve.

Patriots will also be eligible for Patriots Only content, newsletters, chats and live events with our reporters and editors. It's simple: welcome us into your lives, and we'll welcome you into ours.

We can save America together.

Become a Daily Caller Patriot today.

Signature

Neil Patel