AFP – US President Joe Biden announced Monday his agreement to hold a meeting with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu later this year in the United States, despite the estrangement that characterizes the relationship between them, but it has not been confirmed whether this planned meeting will take place in the White House.
The call for the meeting comes on the eve of Israeli President Isaac Herzog’s visit to the White House on Tuesday, indicating a decline in tension between Biden and Netanyahu.
The meeting will also be the first of its kind since Netanyahu returned to power last year and angered Washington with his controversial plan on judicial reform and increased settlement expansion.
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Netanyahu’s office said in a statement Monday that he had received, during a “long and cordial” phone call with Biden, an “invitation” to hold a meeting “in the United States soon.”
The statement added, “The prime minister accepted the invitation, and it was agreed that the Israeli and American teams would coordinate the details.”
However, the American statement about the phone call, which was published relatively long after the Israeli statement, did not mention anything about holding a meeting or offering an invitation.
Biden Spokesman John Kirby confirms President Biden agreed to meet with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu ‘some time before the end of the year.’
Doesn’t confirm if the meeting will take place at the White House. pic.twitter.com/DNvgW19g42
— Moshe Schwartz (@YWNReporter) July 17, 2023
National Security Council spokesman John Kirby separately told reporters that Biden and Netanyahu “agreed that they would meet, possibly before the end of this year” or possibly “in the fall.”
But he refused to confirm whether that meant an invitation to the White House, explaining that work was still going on on “all the details, where and when.”
“of the most extreme”
The relationship between the United States and its historic ally Israel has come under great strain since Netanyahu returned to power at the head of a far-right government in December.
Aside from Herzog’s high-level visit to Washington, Kirby noted that Biden and Netanyahu had been trying “for a few weeks” to arrange the call that took place between the two.
The proposed judicial reform of Netanyahu’s government has sparked protests since January, the largest in Israel.
In the phone call Monday, Netanyahu “informed the US president about the law that will be approved next week in parliament, and his intention to try to get broad popular support during the summer recess on the rest of the (legislation) process.”
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, right, meets with then US Vice President Joe Biden at the Prime Minister’s Office in Jerusalem on March 9, 2016. (Amos Ben Gershom/GPO)
According to the US statement of the call, Biden “expressed his concern about the continued growth of Jewish settlements” and “emphasized the need to take measures to preserve the viability” of establishing a future Palestinian state alongside Israel.
With regard to judicial reforms, “Biden reiterated … the need for the widest possible consensus,” stressing that “shared democratic values have always been and must remain a hallmark of the relationship between the United States and Israel,” according to the American statement.
Biden told CNN earlier this month that the coalition led by Netanyahu is increasing tensions with the Palestinians by facilitating settlement expansion on their lands.
Biden noted that the current government is “one of the most radical” he has known in Israel.
In response to a question about the reasons for not inviting Netanyahu, Biden replied that his country is in contact with “others” in Israel, including Herzog.
The coalition government, which includes parties from the right, the far-right, and ultra-Orthodox formations, asserts that the reforms aim to correct an imbalance between the judiciary and elected members of parliament, while its opponents say that they endanger Israeli democracy.
Kirby warned that Biden’s agreement to meet with Netanyahu does not mean “that we have fewer concerns about these judicial reforms, or fewer concerns about some extremist activities and behavior by some members of the Netanyahu government.”
“These concerns remain,” he added. It is worrying.”
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2023-07-18 06:48:32
