Biden offers Israeli left chance to regain relevance

Former Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni offered her assessment of the trajectory of American foreign policy in a radio interview just before the inauguration of Joe Biden as the 46th president of the United States: “There is no doubt that there will be a shift away from the Greater Land of Israel, annexation, the expansion of construction [in the settlements] and harm to Palestinian [efforts] toward a two-state solution.”

Livni is the most prominent figure in the Israeli center-left to advocate for negotiations with the Palestinians with the goal of reaching a settlement with them. She has a very explicit and detailed agenda, based largely on the advanced negotiations she conducted with Palestinian leaders during her tenure as foreign minister. And yet, she has not played an active role in politics for the past two years.

But that may change. Israelis seem to miss Livni, and so does the country’s political leadership. She is being courted by the different parties on the center-left, including by Yesh Atid chair Yair Lapid. True, Lapid once made an effort to distance himself from the left, claiming that he led a centrist party with slight leanings toward the right, if anything. But that seems to have changed. He now seems to be seeking a new path for himself. Until only recently, Lapid tried to win the support of soft-right voters. He failed again and again over the last few years, not least because Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu had reaped so many achievements with the recently departed US administration.

In contrast, President Barack Obama’s term was characterized by tense, murky relations with Netanyahu due to differences over Iran and the peace process. Back then, leaders on the left warned rightfully about the impact of the Israeli prime minister’s unaccommodating behavior on the relationship between the two countries.