Biden Officials Urge Israel to Make Nice with Syrian Rebel Leader; Netanyahu Skeptical
Susan Walsh / Associated Press, File
Biden-Harris administration officials are reportedly urging Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to develop ties with Syrian rebel leader Ahmad al-Sharaa — a terrorist who until last week had a $10 million bounty on his head.
Netanyahu is reportedly unconvinced.
The Times of Israel reported:
Senior American officials have urged their Israeli counterparts to nurture ties with Syria’s new leader, Channel 12 reports.
“Cooperation and communication channels of yours with al-Julani will bolster Israel’s influence in the entire area,” the report quotes US officials saying. “We are talking about a pragmatic leader who wants to develop strategic relations with the nations of the region.”
Israel is listening to what the Americans are saying, but also suspects that al-Julani is playing the US and international community, and trying to stabilize his control, but has not truly changed his spots.
Sharaa’s nom de guerre, Muhammad al-Jawlani or Abu Muhammad al-Golani, refers specifically to the Golan — the plateau that Israel took from Syria in the 1967 Six-Day War, and which Israel has no intention of returning to Syria.
Netanyahu welcomed the fall of the regime of Bashar al-Assad earlier this month, but also warned that there could be “significant dangers,” depending on what replaced Assad. He said that Israel desired good relations with its neighbor, but would also respond to any threats with force.
Israel has been destroying Syrian military equipment and chemical weapons capabilities to prevent the rebels from using them or exporting them to terrorists elsewhere.
Joel B. Pollak is Senior Editor-at-Large at Breitbart News and the host of Breitbart News Sunday on Sirius XM Patriot on Sunday evenings from 7 p.m. to 10 p.m. ET (4 p.m. to 7 p.m. PT). He is the author of The Agenda: What Trump Should Do in His First 100 Days, available for pre-order on Amazon. He is also the author of The Trumpian Virtues: The Lessons and Legacy of Donald Trump’s Presidency, now available on Audible. He is a winner of the 2018 Robert Novak Journalism Alumni Fellowship. Follow him on Twitter at @joelpollak.
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