At least as far as this writing, the Israeli-Hamas ceasefire continues to hold, and US Secretary of State Tony Blinken’s visit to the region may help inch things along. Maybe. But no big splashes yet.
Still, in its calculations about its future role and intermediate objectives, the Biden administration now must factor in a recalibrated understanding of the changes in some segments of his party – and in the larger society – regarding the longstanding relationship between Israel and the US.
Blinken has been at Biden’s side for many years, most especially during the Obama administration. Blinken previously was deputy national security adviser and deputy secretary of state in the Obama years and during the Clinton era, and served in various state department and national security council positions. Earlier, he had been the senior staff member for the Democrats on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee when Biden was a senator.
At the NSC, Leaf is to be replaced by Brett McGurk. His resumé includes national security positions under George W Bush, Barack Obama and Donald Trump, including special presidential envoy for the global coalition to counter Islamic State in the Levant. Meetings in the upper tiers of the US government that would include Amr, together with Sullivan, Leaf or others as they sort out the next steps for America in dealing with Israel and Palestine will certainly not be boring. But, having Amr in there may be very useful, given his perspectives not universally held among American senior officials, but whose experience and contacts will prove invaluable.
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