'Distrust' between US and Israel: juvenile nonsense or opportunity?

The Biden administration is reportedly losing trust with Israel’s government as strikes on Iran loom. That apparent distrust comes with risks and possibly some benefits, according to experts Iran International spoke with.

The alleged mistrust is related to Israel's military and diplomatic plans in the Middle East, according to the Axios, which has quoted unnamed US officials.

That friction has only intensified, according to reports, over how Israel intends to strike back against Iran after Tehran launched nearly 200 ballistic missiles at Israel on October 2.

“Our trust of the Israelis is very low right now and for a good reason,” said one of the four US officials who spoke with Axios.

Two of the officials told the outlet about a private conversation between White House National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan and Strategic Affairs Minister Ron Dermer on Friday. The US reportedly wants “clarity and transparency” from Israel in relation to a potential attack on Iran.

The US is not opposed to Israeli’s retaliation but wants it to be “measured”, one US official reportedly said.

This comes as legendary journalist Bob Woodward’s new book offers a candid, behind the scenes look at US President Joe Biden’s profanity-laced interactions with world leaders like Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

“That son of a bitch, Bibi Netanyahu, he’s a bad guy. He’s a bad fucking guy!” Biden declared privately about the Israeli prime minister to one of his associates in the spring of 2024 as Israel’s war in Gaza intensified, Woodward wrote.

Jason Brodsky, the policy director of United Against Nuclear Iran (UANI) said he’s finding these stories “tedious” and that he’s “tired of them.” He called it "juvenile nonsense."

“I think they're very harmful to U.S. national security. I think they're very harmful to Israeli security. This is a very important moment as Israel considers its response to an unprecedented attack on the state of Israel by the Islamic Republic of Iran, a common enemy that the United States and Israel share,” he told Iran International.

These types of conversations, which have leaked in recent weeks to various outlets, should be left behind closed doors in private, according to Brodsky who said airing it could only cause harm to security.

“The enemy reads the media and the press. We don't have time for these juvenile Washington insider baseball, gossipy books. Our adversaries read them as well. We have to also think about the message that this sends to us enemies."

Axios is also reporting the US wasn’t notified about Israel's plans to detonate pagers and walkie-talkies used by Hezbollah operatives in Lebanon and the assassination of the Iran-backed proxy leader Hassan Nasrallah in Beirut.

When these leaks occur, a degree of trust is undermined, and that trust runs both ways, said Brodsky, who wasn’t surprised Israel was holding back.

“You can't expect a partner like Israel to want to or be ready to inform the United States with a lot of lead time ahead of significant operations that it wants to undertake.

Meantime, Israel's Channel 12 news reports that US and Arab countries have initiated secret negotiations with Iran to reach a comprehensive ceasefire aimed at simultaneously calming all fronts of the Mideast war. Israel is currently not involved in this initiative, but senior Israeli officials have been informed about it, the report said.

Daniel Pipes, the President of the Middle East Forum, sees some potential benefits in what he called “friction” between the long-time partners.

The ties between the two nations go far back with the US being the first country to recognize Israel as a state in 1948.

Pipes called US and Israel relations as the “family relationship of international relations.”

“Each side intervenes in the other. Each side has opinions about the other. Each side gets upset by the other. It's constant. It just never stops. It's not your usual relationship. And there's a pettiness to it. There's a grander to it and there's surprising things,” Pipes told Iran International in an interview.

He believes the ties between the US and Israel go far beyond the relationship between its leaders, but he still prefers a tense relationship, saying it gives Israel an advantage.

“Because when they get along beautifully...the Americans ask, and Israelis give things which aren't wise. And when there is this certain friction, the Americans don't ask, or if they ask, they don't get what they want. I'm fine with the current situation where Joe Biden is not happy with Benjamin Netanyahu.”

As we draw closer to the US elections, that is top of mind for American officials. Piper said the Harris campaign would dread a war in the Middle East over the impact it could have on a spike in oil prices in conjunction with people headed to the polls.

US national interest is to “keep things quiet,” said Pipes whereas it's in Israel's benefit to deal with a host of issues: defeating Hamas, dismantling Hezbollah, dealing with Iran’s nuclear infrastructure and political dissident against Netanyahu as well as keeping ultra ring-wing members in the Israeli Prime Ministers coalition content.

Both Mideast experts agree that Israel's lack of response to Iranian missiles has nothing to do with its current relations with the White House, but rather an attack of large-scale magnitude takes time and planning. They also both agree that Israel and US relations is based on strong institutional ties that supersede the personalities of its leaders.

Despite the tensions and reported lack of trust between the White House and Israel, there’s no doubt that American support is present, it’s just a matter of how far the US government will back Israel in attacking Iran.