US Ambassador to Israel Tom Nides spoke on Thursday at The Jerusalem Post and Museum of Tolerance Jerusalem’s conference, saying that America is Israel's most strategic partner, particularly when it comes to security issues.
“On security matters, Israel and the US are lock-step,” Nides said during an exchange with his predecessor, David Friedman, which was moderated by Jerusalem Post Editor-in-Chief Avi Mayer.
“We’re the most important friend of Israel and Israel is the most important friend of the US,” added the Ambassador.
“It’s like any great relationship. We have to keep working it and nurturing it and when we have problems we have to work it through, but I am confident that the relationship is strong and enduring,” said Nides.
“We’re the most important friend of Israel and Israel is the most important friend of the US,” he stated.
His comments come amid a dispute between the Biden administration and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s government over its proposed judicial reform.
President Joe Biden recently offered very harsh criticism of Israel, saying he is “very concerned” about the goings on in light of the judicial reform and adding, “They cannot continue down this road.”
Biden also added he will not be inviting Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to the White House in the near term.
Netanyahu later responded to Biden and said, “The alliance between Israel and the United States is unbreakable and always overcomes the occasional disagreements between us.”
He also stressed that “Israel is a sovereign country which makes its decisions by the will of its people and not based on pressures from abroad, including from the best of friends.”
Nides himself came under fire in February when he called on Israeli leaders to “pump the brakes” on the judicial reform.
Diaspora Affairs Minister Amichai Chikli later replied to Nides and said in a radio interview that Nides should stay out of Israel’s affairs.
Nides, in response, took a swipe at Chikli and described him as “an Israeli official that I don’t know.”
In his remarks on Thursday, the ambassador said that the US and Israel are like a “mishpacha” (a family -ed). He added that has been impressed since arriving by how much US politicians and citizens care about Israel.
On this job, Nides said, “You have to talk to everybody. Regardless, if you agree or disagree, it’s important to hear their perspectives. It just makes you a better person, a better diplomat and a better representative of America.”
Former Ambassador Friedman commented on the trip to Poland that he and Nides had taken with the March of the Living, saying the trip showed that “people with very different views can still like each other and have civilized discussions.”
Friedman said that the 2020 US-brokered Abraham Accords normalizing ties with four Arab countries is proof that allies could disagree and still move forward on substantive matters.
“We can’t let the perfect get in the way of the possible,” said Friedman, noting that this is the reason he gets along well with Nides.
The US-Israel relationship is “rock-solid,” Friedman stressed, adding that there is a “deep affection, respect, [and] trust between our two countries in terms of keeping each other safe, ourselves safe and keeping the world safe. That is not going anywhere and I do not see that as being at risk at all.”
“The American people love Israel,” he declared. This is true, even though “the winds of politics change all the time,” Friedman said, adding that, despite this, “the relationship has endured. There is nothing in the friction that arises from time to time that jeopardizes the relationship.”