US-Israeli Relations in Crisis After Law Passed Revoking Disengagement from West Bank

1 \ U.S.-Israeli relations are in full crisis mode less than three months after Benjamin Netanyahu returned to the Israeli Prime Minister's Office

— Barak Ravid (@BarakRavid) March 22, 2023

2 \ The U.S. summoned Israeli Ambassador Mike Herzog on Tuesday to protest an Israeli law passed earlier that day that repealed the 2005 Israeli disengagement from the northern West Bank. The rare U.S. rebuke came after weeks of bubbling tensions between the two close allies

— Barak Ravid (@BarakRavid) March 22, 2023

3 \ Biden administration officials told me they knew from day one a crisis with the Israeli government was going to happen at some point, but they tried to postpone it as much as possible

— Barak Ravid (@BarakRavid) March 22, 2023

4 \ The US had expressed concerns even before Netanyahu was sworn in. But at the time, U.S. officials say, the Biden administration wanted to avoid confrontation so it could directly work with Netanyahu on countering Iran and expanding the Abraham Accords

— Barak Ravid (@BarakRavid) March 22, 2023

5 \ Netanyahu also sought to reassure international concerns about his government, telling U.S. news outlets that he "will have his hands on the wheel" and not his far-right extremist coalition partners

— Barak Ravid (@BarakRavid) March 22, 2023

6 \ Still, tensions began to bubble just weeks after the Israeli government was sworn in when the ruling coalition presented its plan to weaken the Supreme Court. U.S. officials, including President Biden, expressed concerns over what the plan would mean for Israel's democracy

— Barak Ravid (@BarakRavid) March 22, 2023

7 \ Tensions also bubbled over several incidents in the occupied West Bank, including Israeli Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich's call to "wipe out" the Palestinian village of Hawara — a call he has since tried to walk back

— Barak Ravid (@BarakRavid) March 22, 2023

8 \ The comment led the White House to publicly announce that the Biden administration would boycott Smotrich during his visit to Washington. The State Department even considered not issuing a visa

— Barak Ravid (@BarakRavid) March 22, 2023

9 \ Tensions continued to surface when the White House again condemned Smotrich — this time for his claim that the Palestinian people were “an invention” and don't exist

— Barak Ravid (@BarakRavid) March 22, 2023

10 \ Then, on Tuesday, those tensions boiled over when the Israeli Knesset repealed the 2005 disengagement law. The move allows Israeli citizens to enter the area between the cities of Jenin and Nablus, which Israeli settlers had evacuated in 2005

— Barak Ravid (@BarakRavid) March 22, 2023

11 \ The move could dramatically increase the potential for friction between settlers and Palestinians in the most sensitive and volatile area of the West Bank. The U.S. called the move a "provocation" and a violation of commitments given to the U.S. by the Israeli government

— Barak Ravid (@BarakRavid) March 22, 2023

12 \ Behind the scenes: Israeli ambassador Mike Herzog was summoned on short notice for a meeting with Deputy Secretary of State Wendy Sherman, two Israeli and U.S. sources said

— Barak Ravid (@BarakRavid) March 22, 2023

13 \ The last time an Israeli ambassador was summoned to the State Department was in 2010 when Israel approved a new building in an East Jerusalem settlement during then-Vice President Biden's visit to the country

— Barak Ravid (@BarakRavid) March 22, 2023

14 \ Sherman and Herzog's meeting was very tough, with Sherman saying the new law is a violation of the commitment the Israeli government made to the U.S., Egypt and Jordan just last Sunday during the summit in Sharm el-Sheikh, a source with knowledge of the meeting said

— Barak Ravid (@BarakRavid) March 22, 2023

15 \ The summoning of the Israeli ambassador was "a result of the Israelis going too far — the judicial overhaul, Smotrich and now this law — it was just too much," a U.S. official told me

— Barak Ravid (@BarakRavid) March 22, 2023

16 \ Netanyahu on Wednesday pushed back on the Biden administration’s criticism, saying the new law “brings to an end to a discriminatory and humiliating law that barred Jews from living in areas in northern Samaria, part of our historic homeland"

— Barak Ravid (@BarakRavid) March 22, 2023

17 \ At the same time, the Prime Minister’s Office stressed that the government has no intention of establishing new settlements in the parts of the West Bank the new law addresses

— Barak Ravid (@BarakRavid) March 22, 2023