As Joe Biden received Israel’s figurehead president Isaac Herzog at the White House this week, he hailed the relationship between the US and Israel as “simply unbreakable”, and talked up the “ironclad” commitment to its Middle East ally.
Yet despite the US president’s warm words, this week’s flurry of diplomatic activity also laid bare the extent to which ties between the US and one of its closest allies been strained since Benjamin Netanyahu was sworn in last year at the head of the most rightwing government in Israeli history.
“The administration is trying to walk between the lines,” said Danny Ayalon, a former Israeli ambassador to the US and now chair of Silver Road Capital Group. “To show they have Israel’s back — but also that they have a problem with this government.”