Washington, D.C
An ode to Israel's diplomats in DC and beyond amid the deterioration of Israel's rep – opinion
It is embarrassing to admit, but of all those to whom one’s heart goes out these days, there is a small corner in my heart for Israelis with fancy titles who live in a pleasant city abroad.
I refer to the staff of the Embassy of Israel in Washington DC, where I served as congressional liaison officer. I proudly represented a small democracy defending itself bravely against threats by surrounding dictatorships while doing everything in its power to achieve peace. We heard some criticism, but overall, due to mutual trust and a meeting of interests and values, the country and I were queens of the hill: Capitol Hill.
As befits queens, everyone wanted to please us. Can we help you pass a law? Would you care for a Free Trade Agreement? I was recently reminded that I was there at the beginning of the funding of the Arrow aerial defense system – I had been involved in so much good, that I forgot.
The importance of the relations was expressed during VIP visits, which entailed a lot of work – we coordinated, accompanied, summarized, and reported. Visits yielded practical results, like agreements and important declarations. The prime minister, foreign minister, defense minister, and finance minister each visited at least once a year, along with other dignitaries. Requests for meetings were almost always honored.
When Israel’s government changed, we represented its policies loyally and professionally. None of my interlocutors, including those who became friends, knew my personal opinions or how I vote.
Neutrality was our guide regarding internal American matters. When we arranged for a visitor to meet a committee chairman, we made sure that we met with the minority leader of the same committee. Not only because what goes up always comes down and vice versa, but because bi-lateral support for Israel is a strategic asset which cannot be endangered. Until a few years ago, it was inconceivable that senior Israelis hinted at a preferred candidate or party, never mind expressing themselves openly.
Invitations to Washington have nearly stopped with the new coalition
GIVEN THE policies of the current coalition, meaning the erasure of the Green Line, invitations to Washington all but stopped. I would sometimes imagine myself walking the corridors of Congress and being asked, “how does annexing millions of Palestinians tally with Israel being a democracy?” or about the judicial “reform,” which would eliminate the separation of powers. Being sister-democracies is at the core of the values on which the special relationship is based. In my imagination, I had no answer.
There is no need to elaborate what the ongoing war has done to Israel’s image, while the aforementioned trends continue unabated. Thus, shortly before Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s speech, National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir announced that he had changed the status quo regarding the Temple Mount. Americans know that he is a follower of Meir Kahane, founder of the Jewish Defense League, designated a terrorist organization by the FBI.
That Netanyahu is the first foreign leader to address a joint session of Congress four times is remarkable. I have no idea who works in the embassy now, but have no doubt that staff noticed many empty seats, that they were upset to see families of hostages arrested for wearing a shirt that might upset the speaker – as though he has no connection to their plight – and that they cringed when they heard their prime minister directing an unveiled dig at Vice President Kamala Harris, who could well be the next president. Even those not deemed US experts understand that her goodwill is more important than a transient headline designed to please her opponents.
Undoubtedly, Israel’s representatives found a suitable diplomatic response when, after the compliments about the presentation and the ovations, they were asked follow-up questions. Why should we trust a foreign leader, when polls indicate that the majority of his people do not trust him and that they want him to resign? Deradicalization of Gaza sounds good, but what does it mean? Do you have a plan for “the day after,” or is it all slogans and PR?
No, one shouldn’t pity Israel’s diplomats in Washington, certainly not in relation to those who lost everything on October 7 and since. Yet, to understand the deterioration of Israel’s position in the world, particularly in the US capital, stand for a minute in the shoes that used to be mine and see how respect and credibility were replaced with mistrust and partisanship.
The writer was Israel’s first ambassador to the Baltic States after the disintegration of the Soviet Union, ambassador to South Africa, and congressional liaison officer at the embassy in Washington. She is a graduate of Israel’s National Defense College.
TALLAHASSEE, Fla. (WCTV) – Seventy-two veterans took a trip Saturday to our nation’s capital to visit memorials honoring their service in the armed forces.
This year marks the 12th trip to Washington, D.C. for Honor Flight Tallahassee.
Early Saturday morning, veterans and their guardians met to take a charter flight up to D.C.
Throughout the day, veterans were taken to the World War II memorial, as well as the Korean and Vietnam War memorials. The veterans also visited Arlington National Cemetery and the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier.
More Tallahassee news:
The day ended with a wonderful welcome home celebration.
Our Jacob Murphey, Julia Miller, Taylor Viles, and Grace Temple accompanied the veterans, capturing moments from throughout the day.
The team will have live coverage from Washington, D.C. on Monday to share more from the day’s events.
We will continue to have coverage throughout the month of May, leading up to our Honor Flight special on Memorial Day.
To keep up with the latest news as it develops, follow WCTV on Facebook, Instagram, YouTube, Nextdoor and X (Twitter).
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4 things to know about the weather:
- Chances of rain in the morning
- Gusty Sunday
- Chilly Monday
- Temps will rise again through the work week
Download the NBC Washington app on iOS and Android to check the weather radar on the go.
After a nice and warm Saturday, changes arrive for part two of the weekend.
The first half of your Sunday will have a chance for showers. Winds will pick up with our next system and are expected to gust to about 20-30 mph. Cooler air will settle in, and lows Sunday night fall into the 40s.
Highs temps Monday will reach only into the mid to upper 50s.
However, temperatures will rise through the week, so you won’t need your jackets every day.
QuickCast
SUNDAY:
Showers, then partly cloudy
Wind: NW 10-15 mph
Gusts @ 30 mph
HIGH: Lower 60s
MONDAY:
Partly cloudy
Wind: NW 10-15 mph
Gusts @ 25 mph
HIGH: Upper 50s
Stay with Storm Team4 for the latest forecast. Download the NBC Washington app on iOS and Android to get severe weather alerts on your phone.
Washington, D.C
‘It’s a twilight zone’: Iran war casts deep shadows over IMF gathering in Washington
The most severe energy shock since the 1970s, the risk of a global recession and households everywhere stomaching a renewed surge in the cost of living – hitting the most vulnerable hardest.
In a sweltering hot Washington DC this week, the message at the International Monetary Fund meetings was chilling: things had been looking up for living standards around the world. But then came the Iran war.
“Some countries are in panic,” said the fund’s managing director, Kristalina Georgieva, addressing the finance ministers and central bank bosses in town for the IMF and World Bank spring meetings. “The sooner it [the Iran war] ends, the better for everybody.”
Such gatherings are not typically used to fight geopolitical battles. “You don’t get people shouting at one another at these things,” one senior figure remarked. But, as a record-breaking April heatwave swept the US capital, no one could ignore the mounting damage from the Iran war.
Those familiar with the mood over breakfast at a meeting of the G20’s representatives on Thursday, which included Donald Trump’s treasury secretary, Scott Bessent, and the outgoing US Federal Reserve chair, Jerome Powell – said the atmosphere in the room was sombre amid an open exchange of serious views.
“It is such a twilight-zone meeting,” said Mohamed El-Erian, a former IMF deputy managing director who is now chief economic adviser at the Allianz insurance group. “There are several shadows hanging over it: one is the shadow that comes from concern about the global economy as a whole.
“The second is that some countries are going to be particularly hard hit, and it’s mostly countries that very few people are talking about. But the third concern is the adding of insult to injury: the fact that the US, which started a war of choice, is going to be hit, but by a lot less than elsewhere in relative terms.”
Before Thursday’s breakfast, Rachel Reeves had started her day with an early-morning jog. Joined by her counterparts from Spain, Australia and New Zealand for a run down the iconic National Mall, she posted an Instagram selfie with a not-so-subtle dig: “Friends that run together – work together.”
A day earlier, the chancellor had told a CNBC conference that she thought “friends are allowed to disagree on things” as she criticised Trump’s Iran war as a “mistake” and a “folly” that had not made the world safer.
Speaking at a venue just steps away from the White House, before a one-on-one meeting with Bessent, she said this “fair message” was needed because UK families and businesses were feeling the pain from higher energy prices triggered by the conflict.
Those close to Reeves insist her meeting remained cordial. Britain and the US have significant shared interests in AI, financial services and trade. The chancellor also said the UK government had little time for the Iranian regime.
But with the IMF having warned on Tuesday that the Iran war could risk a global recession – in which Britain would be the biggest G7 casualty – it was clear Reeves had travelled to Washington ready to pick a fight.
“I’m struck by how vocal she has been and the words she used,” said one global financier. “We know the disagreement between Bessent and [European Central Bank president] Christine Lagarde earlier in the year. But that was in private.”
At a cocktail party held at the British ambassador’s residence for hundreds of diplomats and financiers – including the Bank of England’s governor, Andrew Bailey, the chief executive of Barclays, CS Venkatakrishnan, and dozens of senior figures – this transatlantic tension, weeks before King Charles’s US state visit, was a major topic of conversation.
The other, in the balmy residence gardens, was one of its former occupants, Peter Mandelson, as revelations about the former ambassador’s appointment threatened to further rock the UK government.
Before the war, the agenda for the IMF had been about global cooperation; the adoption of AI, jobs and work to eradicate poverty. Each of those tasks had now been complicated, but not least the task of countries working together.
For many at the meetings, the focus was on forging closer global cooperation without the world’s pre-eminent superpower.
“Everybody is talking about how you hedge against American decisions,” said David Miliband, the former UK foreign secretary, who now runs the International Rescue Committee. “You can’t do without them, because they’re 25% of the global economy. But, in a lot of fora, they’ve pulled out.
“So everyone has to think, how does one structure international cooperation? The old west is not coming back. And so everyone has to figure out how to position themselves for that world.”
For those gathering in Washington, there was irony in the fact that they were meeting in the halls of institutions founded, under US leadership, to promote global cooperation after the second world war. The whole idea of the Bretton Woods institutions was to avoid the dire economic conditions and warfare of the 1930s and 1940s. Yet this year’s meeting was taking place amid these intertwining problems.
In their conversations about the best economic policy response to the shock of conflict, the economists also knew the real power to make a difference lay two blocks across town from the IMF and the World Bank – behind the security cordons and construction equipment blocking the White House from public view. “It is not clear they can do anything about it,” said El-Erian.
Still, with a booming economy driven by AI – including Anthropic’s powerful Mythos model, the topic of much conversation – most countries cannot afford to completely break off US ties.
“People want to find ways to insulate themselves from the mess. But, on the other hand, they admire the US private sector,” El-Erian said. “The best way I’ve heard it put, is: they want to go long the private sector and short the mess. But it’s almost impossible to do.”
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