New Efforts in Complete Media Silence
The Biden team is seriously pursuing the resolution of the crisis between Israel, Hezbollah in Lebanon, and Iran. This serious and vital initiative has been followed by the Biden team without creating sensitivity in the media space, and naturally, Biden’s two main foreign policy figures in the Middle East, Brett McGurk and Amos Hochstein, play a significant role in this matter.
The reflection of these efforts can be seen sporadically in the statements of John Kirby, Biden’s advisor and spokesperson for the US National Security Council. However, the key point for the Biden team is to create a basis for de-escalation without making the activities media-centric. The two influential American figures in the Middle East have always conducted their travels and talks in silence, and recent news indicates that if in the past McGurk’s face-to-face meetings with Iranian officials were reported in the media with a few days’ delay, now McGurk and Hochstein have taken to holding continuous virtual meetings to minimize media sensitivity.
Hochstein, as the most important figure in US policy regarding Lebanon and Israel, along with McGurk and Jake Sullivan, has talked with Israeli officials. In this virtual meeting, which was made public a few days after it occurred, Ron Dermer, the Minister of Strategic Affairs and Netanyahu’s most important advisor, was present on behalf of the Israelis in the negotiation. The Biden team is currently seeking to create a foundation for a diplomatic reconciliation dialogue between Israel and Lebanon and is also considering the near future and the special conditions of the border between the two sides in case of no agreement between Hamas and Israel, planning to manage conflicts in that scenario.