Mr. Bennett assumed office this month on a bellicose note when it comes to Iran, declaring that work to repair the 2015 nuclear deal “is a mistake that will once again give legitimacy to one of the most violent, darkest regimes in the world.”Under the agreement, world powers lifted sanctions on Tehran in return for time-limited restrictions on its nuclear program. Mr. Bennett added, “Israel is not a party to the deal, and will maintain total freedom of action.”Steven Simon, who served as the National Security Council’s senior director for the Middle East and North Africa in the Obama White House, said the rifts that emerged between Democrats and Mr. Netanyahu — fueled by his enthusiastic embrace of President Donald J. Trump — would not be smoothed over easily by a change of faces in Israel’s leadership. “There are fundamental differences that have emerged in the relationship that will be difficult to reverse, especially as American politics becomes increasingly polarized,” said Mr. Simon, now a professor of international relations at Colby College. “I think it will be hard under foreseeable circumstances for Israel to recapture the wall-to-wall loyalty of the Democratic Party.”Last week, 73 House Democrats signed a letter calling on President Biden to do more to reverse key elements of what they called Mr. Trump’s “abandonment of longstanding, bipartisan U.S. policy” toward Israel and the Palestinians. That included the formal withdrawal of Mr. Trump’s plan for an Israeli-Palestinian peace agreement and the rescinding of a State Department legal opinion that called Israeli settlements “inconsistent with international law.”Mr. Blinken met Mr. Lapid last month in Israel following the cease-fire that ended a 10-day conflict between Israel and Gaza-based Hamas set off by violence within Israel between Arabs and Jews.

Source: New York Times June 27, 2021 19:07 UTC