Quietly and under the radar of the Israeli media, Knesset member Ahmad Tibi entered the holiest of holies of America’s most important strategic assets Feb. 4: Washington’s White House, State Department and Capitol Hill. As far as anyone can remember, no such meetings have been held in the past with such high echelons and such levels of intimacy between American administration sources and an Israeli Arab Knesset member. Tibi’s international status, his popularity in the Israeli Arab community and the conspicuous estrangement between the White House and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office were probably among the factors that contributed to the setting up of the meetings.

Tibi talked to his American interlocutors about the situation of Israeli Arabs, who constitute a minority of about 20% of the country’s population, and strongly condemned the policies of the Netanyahu government, which he called “Israel’s most extremist government of all times, to the extent that the most moderate person in it is Netanyahu himself.”

After Israel’s last elections in March 2015, the Obama administration (and President Barack Obama himself) strongly criticized Netanyahu’s racist statements toward the Arab public (“Arab voters are heading to the polling stations in droves”). Netanyahu was quick to apologize, but the Americans emphasized that such statements are likely to influence their policy. Now, it seems, they are making good on their promise by inviting Tibi, one of Netanyahu’s most scathing critics, to talks in the White House. And this is taking place while discussions between Israel and the United States regarding the signing of a memorandum of understanding regarding a military aid package to Israel for the next decade are stalled.

Tibi agreed to give Al-Monitor a telephone interview from Washington. His American journey lasted more than a week. In the White House, Tibi met with Robert Malley, Obama's point man on the Middle East, and Malley’s staff. At the State Department, he met with Frank Lowenstein, the department's special envoy for Israeli-Palestinian negotiations, and also with Christopher Henzel, director of the Office of Israel and Palestinian Affairs. Finally, Tibi met with several top legislators on Capitol Hill.