Blinken tells Jewish leaders in the US does not want Israel to 'escalate' after Iran attack

• Published date: 17 April 2024
• Author: RON KAMPEAS/JTA
• Publication title: Jerusalem Post, The: Web Edition Articles (Israel)

Blinken called the meeting at the State Department on Tuesday morning as Israel contemplates how and when to retaliate against Iran. Blinken underscored how eager the Biden Administration is for the Israel-Hamas war not to spread across the region

"We understand and appreciate why the Israelis feel like they must respond," Blinken said according to the notes of one participant, confirmed by three others. "In our estimation, it is not in Israel's interests or in America's interest for this to escalate. However, that is a decision for Israel to make. We would never tell Israel what to do — we just give the best advice we can."

That message came after reports that President Joe Biden told Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu that the United States would not participate in or support an Israeli attack on Iran. The United States did help defend Israel from the Iranian attack, shooting down missiles and drones fired by Iran. It was part of a coalition of countries that came to Israel's defense, including the United Kingdom, France and Jordan.

Tuesday's meeting was off the record, but a number of participants agreed to describe it on condition they not be identified. Groups represented included the Conference of Presidents of Major American Jewish Organizations, J Street, the Reform movement, the Jewish Democratic Council of America, the National Council of Jewish Women, the Jewish Federations of North America, the Israel Policy Forum, the Jewish Council for Public Affairs, the American Jewish Committee, the Conservative movement, Hadassah and the Anti-Defamation League.

Deborah Lipstadt, the State Department's envoy to combat antisemitism, moderated the gathering. The State Department did not return a request for comment.

Unconditional support for the Jewish state

There was some pushback from the centrist and right-wing Jewish officials present, who called on the United States to support whatever decision Israel makes. "If and when and how Israel responds, we said it's very important for that to be backed up by the United States, so that Iran and others see that the coalition [that repelled Iran's attack] will stay together and remain a deterrent to Iran," one of the participants said.

Overall, the Jewish leaders evinced gratitude, with the word "miracle" used multiple times to describe the relief that Israel and its allies downed most of the missiles and that no one was killed by the attack. There was relief, too, the US-Israel tensions over the Gaza war...