Foreign policy of the George H. W. Bush administration wrote "we in the Administration can and need to do better at making this relationship succeed", Klein afterward stating he was pleased with the response, saying the letter "shows his warmth and commitment to the fundamental core relationship between the United States and Israel" while admitting "policy differences between Israel and the United States on the settlements". On August 11, following a meeting between President Bush and Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin, Bush announced he would seek the approval of Congress to bestow Israel up to $10 billion in loan guarantees to assist the country with its absorbing of Soviet Union
Yitzhak Rabin withdrew from the party leadership and candidacy for prime minister. Following his resignation and Labour Party defeat at the elections, Likud's Menachem Begin was elected in 1977. Until 1984 Rabin had been a member of Knesset and had sat on the Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee. From 1984 to 1990, he served as Minister of Defense in several national unity governments led by prime ministers Yitzhak Shamir and Shimon Peres. When Rabin came to office, Israeli troops were still deep in Lebanon. Rabin ordered their withdrawal to a "Security Zone" on the Lebanese side of the border. The South Lebanon