How is it that Netanyahu is able to keep defying Biden?

The 'tail wagging the dog' situation is not simply about the power of the 'Israel Lobby'. Other factors in the patron-client relationship are in play too.

- Jonathan Eyal

As the number of Palestinian civilians killed in the Gaza war soared, the Biden administration was subjected to fierce criticism both at home and overseas for its apparent inability to either mitigate or halt Israel's behavior.

Israel not only repeatedly ignored US advice, but also often simply brushed aside Washington's concerns without bothering to consider the damage this inflicts on America's national interests.

How can one explain the stunning inability of the US to influence - let alone discipline - the behavior of Israel, a country that utterly depends on the supply of US weapons and financial assistance? Three explanations are usually offered. One, put forward by America's sworn enemies, claims that the US is just duplicitous; it is happy to leave Israel to do Washington's “dirty work” in the Middle East.

Another argument - offered by allies of the US, often with an air of resignation - is that the powerful “Israel Lobby” (or the “Jewish Lobby”, as the politically incorrect would privately call it) prevents any US politician from standing up to Israel.

And a more recent explanation on which both America's critics and friends seem to agree is that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu can uniquely run rings around a physically exhausted President Joe Biden.

Yet all these explanations are caricatures of a far more complex reality. The truth is that the leverage any big power enjoys over its “client” is nowhere near as decisive as commonly assumed. And although America is undoubtedly paying a political price for standing by Israel now, many US officials privately believe that much of what is happening in the Middle East may work in America's favor. So, Israel enjoys plenty of latitude.

AMERICA THE WEAK?