The White House pushed President Biden’s closely watched summit with Israeli Prime Minister Naftali Bennett to Friday as explosions sent the Afghanistan evacuation mission into chaos on the cusp of Thursday’s meeting.
Mr. Bennett was supposed to arrive shortly before lunchtime but the deadly bomb blasts in Kabul pulled Mr. Biden into meetings with his top military leaders.
The president’s afternoon meeting with governors was also scrapped amid the devastating news from abroad.
The Bennett summit is being eyed as a way for Mr. Biden to solidify ties with the new prime minister even as they disagree sharply on whether to resuscitate the Iran nuclear deal.
The far-right Mr. Bennett, 49, is the son of American immigrants to Israel and spent his early career as a software entrepreneur before entering politics. He is part of a ruling coalition of eight parties, ranging from the far-left to far-right, including a faction representing Israel’s Arab minority.
Mr. Bennett will be in office for two years before giving way to Yair Lapid, who will become prime minister in 2023 as part of the rotating government.
A senior administration official described the first face-to-face meeting between the men as “a chance for the prime minister to hear directly from the president his ironclad commitment to Israel’s security and self-defense, and supporting Israel’s defense needs.”
Mr. Biden tried to cultivate ties with the prime minister early. He called to congratulate Mr. Bennett within two hours of his swearing-in on June 13 to replace Benjamin Netanyahu, the longtime Israeli leader who enjoyed close ties with former President Donald Trump but a frosty relationship with Democratic leaders.
“I think that sent a very clear signal of U.S. support for the prime minister and for this new government, which is a truly extraordinarily broad, big-tent coalition, which is steering Israel as we speak,” the senior administration official said ahead of the visit.
Mr. Biden in June hosted outgoing Israel President Reuven Rivlin, promising him that Iran will never get a nuclear weapon on his watch.
Mr. Bennett wants Mr. Biden to take a much harder posture toward Iran, Israel’s archenemy.
“This is the time to stop the Iranians, not to give them a lifeline in the form of re-entering an expired nuclear deal,” the prime minister said at a Cabinet meeting this week.
Yet the White House has been trying to revive the Obama-era Iran nuclear deal. Senior administration officials said Iran’s program has been accelerating since the U.S. left the deal and it is a “very serious problem,” even as Israeli leaders push to move beyond the deal.
Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, Kentucky Republican, said he had a good conversation with Mr. Bennett late Wednesday.
“We discussed shared challenges: Global terrorism, Iran’s dangerous aspirations, anti-Semitism & BDS,” he tweeted, using an acronym for the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions movement that targets Israel because of its policies toward Palestinians. “Reaffirmed my support for deeper strategic partnership and preserving Israel’s qualitative military edge & freedom of action. Reaffirmed my support for deeper strategic partnership and preserving Israel’s qualitative military edge & freedom of action.”
Mr. Bennett also met Wednesday with Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin and with Secretary of State Antony Blinken.
The prime minister also reportedly met with Howard Kohr, executive director of the American Israel Public Affairs Committee.
• Guy Taylor and Jeff Mordock contributed to this story.
• Tom Howell Jr. can be reached at thowell@washingtontimes.com.
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