Ever since it became clear that Benjamin Netanyahu was likely to return as Israel’s prime minister and that he would be bringing in a government that, even for Israel, was radically right wing, Joe Biden and Antony Blinken have consistently been saying that they will react to the government’s actions, not its members, and that they would be dealing with Netanyahu, not Bezalel Smotrich or Itamar Ben Gvir.
This is not new, and it’s simply their way of trying to ensure that no matter how horrible the crimes Israel commits against Palestinians on a daily basis, business as usual will not be disrupted. Yet, some sectors of the media and commentariat have chosen to interpret this as Biden and Blinken planning to “hold Netanyahu accountable” for the actions of the “radicals,” as if Netanyahu himself is not a leader of the global radical right.
I explore this in my latest piece for Mondoweiss.