27-07-23, 12:01 PM
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رد: Saudi Arabia Economical and other News
Netanyahu is not snubbing the US by agreeing to visit China
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is clearly unhappy that seven months into his latest term in office, US President Joe Biden is yet to invite him to the White House, which is normally a routine port of call for an incoming Israeli PM. American-Israeli relations are at a low point, with the Biden administration publicly critical of the Netanyahu government’s actions – including its bid to curb the power of the judiciary, its no-holds-barred settlement building and its inability or unwillingness to control violence by settlers against Palestinians in the West Bank. Biden has called ministers in the Israeli coalition the most extreme in the country’s history.
On July 16, two days before Israeli President Isaac Herzog traveled to Washington and met President Biden at the Oval Office, Netanyahu reportedly berated Israel’s ambassador to the US for failing to secure him a similar invitation. After Biden and Netanyahu had spoken on the phone the following day, Netanyahu’s office immediately reported that Biden had issued the long-awaited invitation to the US, without mentioning whether Netanyahu would be received in the White House or even when the visit might take place. Tellingly, the US readout of the call made no mention of such an invitation having been extended. Instead, it reported that Biden had reiterated his concern over continued settlement building and the threat to US-Israeli “shared democratic values” from the Israeli government pushing ahead with fundamental judicial changes without a national consensus.
One invitation from abroad that has certainly come Netanyahu’s way is from Chinese President Xi Jinping. When Netanyahu’s office announced on June 26th that the prime minister would make his fourth visit to China, probably in October, several commentators in Israel linked the visit to Netanyahu’s tense relations with Washington. They claimed that Netanyahu was seeking to use Xi’s invitation to show Biden that Israel was not beholden to the US and had strong links with other global powers. Former Mossad chief Efraim Halevy warned that it was a bad idea for Netanyahu to go to China “to stick it to the Americans.”
Former head of Israel’s military intelligence Amos Yadlin warned that such a plan would further damage the already tense relationship between the Biden administration and the Israeli government. Such an analysis is based on fears that the US would not take kindly to an Israel leader sacrificing the deep-seated relationship with Washington for enhanced relations with America’s main geopolitical rival.
But such fears are misplaced. There is nothing to suggest that Netanyahu is deliberately seeking to provoke Washington by agreeing to visit Beijing. His office made it clear that it had informed the US of the invitation to visit China a month before it was made public. It described defense and intelligence cooperation as at a “record high” with the US, which remained Israel’s “essential and irreplaceable ally.” Netanyahu is well aware of the unique support the US extends to Israel, including the $3.8 billion in military aid annually, access to the most advanced US warplanes and diplomatic cover against moves to sanction it in the UN Security Council. He is not about to put all that at risk by deliberately provoking the US. And there has been no angry reaction from Washington at the announcement that Netanyahu will be visiting China.
China is Israel’s largest trade partner in Asia, though the US has, in the last two years, pressured Israel into limiting Chinese involvement in its infrastructure and advanced technology sectors. Bilateral trade increased from $9 billion in 2012 to nearly $22 billion last year. Also, Netanyahu was invited to China in the context of the annual meeting of the China-Israel Joint Committee on Innovation Cooperation, set up in 2014.
China has also made serious commercial and diplomatic inroads in recent years across the Middle East, famously brokering the Saudi-Iranian agreement to restore diplomatic relations this March. During Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas’s three-day visit to China in June, President Xi reportedly said that China supported the idea of holding an international conference to ease the way to a resumption of talks between Palestinians and Israel.
With China clearly seeking to exert greater commercial and diplomatic influence across the region it would be strange indeed if the Israeli prime minister turned down a chance to promote Israel’s case with the Chinese leadership, particularly in the context of putative Chinese efforts to engage on the Palestinian issue. Netanyahu recognizes the importance of engaging with an increasingly assertive China, as the US itself does, but he also understands that this cannot come at the expense of Israel’s fundamental relationship with Washington.
David Powell worked for 20 years as a journalist in pan-Arab television news, including BBC Arabic and MBC. He is now an analyst of Middle East affairs specializing in media and Islamist movements.
Alarabiya.net
27/07/2023
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نجاح مسابقة " المقالة الأدبية " .
8/1/2012م
الأدارة .
يَا أَيُّهَا النَّاسُ إِنَّا خَلَقْنَاكُم مِّن ذَكَرٍ وَأُنثَى وَجَعَلْنَاكُمْ شُعُوبًا وَقَبَائِلَ لِتَعَارَفُوا إِنَّ أَكْرَمَكُمْ عِندَ اللَّهِ أَتْقَاكُمْ إِنَّ اللَّهَ عَلِيمٌ خَبِيرٌ
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