Netanyahu visit derailed by a big week in Washington

Perhaps no one on Planet Earth was more inconvenienced by U.S. President Joe Biden's shock announcement that he would step down as Democratic presidential candidate in the 2024 election than Benjamin Netanyahu.

In the days leading up to Netanyahu's Washington visit, many observers speculated that a potential Biden announcement would wait until Netanyahu skipped town, lest the U.S. president give his long-time Israeli counterpart the satisfaction of a victory lap.

In reality however, Biden's announcement removed virtually all momentum ahead of Netanyahu's trip, which was delayed by several hours, and put the Israeli prime minister in the most politically complicated position he has been since Biden defeated Donald Trump in 2020.

Much remains unclear in the immediate aftermath of Biden's announcement, including whether Netanyahu's long-coveted White House meeting is still on. For one, Biden is still recuperating from COVID-19 and nearing completion of his Paxlovid cycle. The White House, however, declined to offer any public schedule for Biden in the days ahead, simply opting to state "additional details to the President's schedule forthcoming."

Netanyahu – who will be met with tens of thousands of protesters regardless and boycotted by dozens of Democrats – will be forced to undergo his own sort of political game theory.

Should he not endorse Biden, he will remove any semblance of bipartisanship – it would be the final nail in the coffin for any pretense that Netanyahu is not strictly an agent of the Republican Party. If he does even offer Biden the most cursory of acknowledgements for being perhaps the most significant pro-Israel Democrat in American political history, it will assuredly capture Trump's attention.

Netanyahu's visit may not be the national event he was anticipating, but the stakes for him personally are even higher than they were 24 hours ago.

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Biden has caught Netanyahu in a political trap as he lands in Washington (Ben Samuels, Haaretz)