The Perils of Marching in 'Lockstep' with Clients

The administration seems to be giving them the green light to go ahead with an attack whenever they wish.

U.S. Ambassador to Israel Tom Nides is taking the “no daylight” approach to U.S.-Israel relations to its absurd extreme conclusion:

“As President [Joe] Biden has said, we will not stand by and watch Iran get a nuclear weapon, number one. Number two, he said, all options are on the table. Number three, Israel can and should do whatever they need to deal with and we’ve got their back [bold mine-DL],” Nides adds.

Unfortunately, this is the sort of dangerous rhetoric that you get when administration officials routinely talk about “ironclad” commitments and “unbreakable” bonds. The implication is that the U.S. will back up the Israeli government’s actions no matter what they are, where they take place, or what effect they might have on U.S. interests. The ambassador’s remarks will give the Israeli government confirmation that they can attack Iran however they like with impunity. The administration seems to be giving them the green light to go ahead with an attack whenever they wish. If the ambassador was speaking out of turn and wasn’t accurately reflecting U.S. policy, it would be good for the State Department and the White House to clarify that at once, but I fear that the ambassador said these things because it is what the president believes.