JERUSALEM — President Joe Biden took office promising to unite the country — but on Israel, his own party is divided.
Arriving in Jerusalem on Wednesday, Biden condemned divisions inside the Democratic Party over U.S. support for the Jewish state, a relationship he described earlier as “bone deep.”
“There are a few of them,” Biden said during an interview with Israel’s Channel 12 News, referring to Democrats who view Israel as an “apartheid state” because of its handling of the Palestinian territories. “I think they’re wrong. I think they’re making a mistake.”
Though support for Israel still draws bipartisan approval, a left-wing flank inside Biden’s party balks at America’s stalwart backing of its closest regional ally.
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The trip, Biden’s tenth to Israel, comes a little more than one year after an outbreak of violence outside the al Aqsa Mosque in Jerusalem’s Old City sparked a multiday conflict between Israelis and Palestinians. Biden drew criticism from some Democrats for his handling of the crisis.
In the interview Wednesday, Biden emphasized a key likeness between Israel and the United States and noted the long-standing relationship between the two nations.
“Israel is a democracy. Israel is our ally,” the president said. “And I think I make no apologies.”
For decades, Biden has defended those ties, beginning when he was a junior senator from Delaware. And he continued that message during an arrival ceremony at Ben Gurion Airport on the start of a four-day trip across the Middle East.
“Every chance to return to this great country, where the ancient roots of the Jewish people date back to biblical times, is a blessing,” Biden said. “Because the connection between the Israeli people and the American people is bone deep. It’s bone deep.”
He moved to tamp down notions that the intraparty split among Democrats could fracture Washington’s institutional support for Israel.
“There’s no possibility, I think, of the Democratic Party, or even a significant portion of the Republican Party, walking away from Israel,” Biden told Channel 12.
During the interview, the president said his administration would remain committed to the relationship, regardless of who takes in power in Jerusalem, a nod at the prospect of working with the current opposition leader and close Trump ally, longtime Premier Benjamin Netanyahu.
“We’re committed to the state, not an individual leader,” Biden said. “Whoever the leader is, I’ll work with.”
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The president is in Jerusalem to reaffirm America’s commitment to Israeli security, help advance closer cooperation with its Arab neighbors, and weigh the threat of Iranian nuclear proliferation.
Biden said during the interview that an Iranian military unit that the U.S. has designated a terrorist group would remain blacklisted, even if this ends the prospect of a return to the nuclear deal that sought to curtail Tehran’s nuclear advances.
