On Sunday, National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan phoned his Israeli counterpart and turned back the hands of time. According to the American of the conversation, Sullivan called 鈥渢o express the United States鈥� serious concerns鈥� about two things: the pending eviction, by court order, of a number of Palestinian families from their homes in the Sheikh Jarrah neighborhood of Jerusalem, and the weekend鈥檚 violent clashes on the Temple Mount between Israeli police and Palestinian rioters. The Biden administration, in other words, publicly asserted an American national interest in preventing the Sheikh Jarrah evictions, regardless of the dictates of Israeli law鈥攋ust as Hamas was sending rockets and incendiary devices into Israel with the same message. This conscious effort to put 鈥渄aylight鈥� between the United States and Israel marked a clear return to the approach of President Barack Obama.
Sullivan鈥檚 call invites us to reopen an unresolved debate that began even before President Joe Biden took the oath of office. Is the new president forging his own path in the Middle East, or is he following in the footsteps of Obama? Until now, those who feared that his presidency might become the third term of Obama fixed their wary eyes on Robert Malley, the president鈥檚 choice as Iran envoy. When serving in the Obama White House, Malley helped negotiate the Iran nuclear deal, which sought accommodations with Tehran that came at the expense of America鈥檚 allies in the Middle East. In a revealing Foreign Affairs article, written in 2019, Malley regret that Obama failed to arrive at more such accommodations. The direction of Obama鈥檚 policy was praiseworthy, Malley wrote, but his 鈥渕oderation鈥� was the enemy of his project. Being 鈥渁 gradualist,鈥� he presided over 鈥渁n experiment that got suspended halfway through.鈥�
Malley, the article leads one to assume, is now advising Biden to go all the way鈥攁nd fast. But surely it is the president, not his Iran envoy, who determines the direction and pace of policy. Over the course of a career in Washington spanning nearly half a century, Biden has never cut a radical profile. Nor have Sullivan or Secretary of State Antony Blinken. The presence of this pair at Biden鈥檚 side signaled to many that Malley would not drive Iran policy. Shortly after the election, a veteran Washington insider to a journalist that 鈥淏linken and Sullivan are certainly from the more moderate wing of the party, and that is reassuring.鈥�