Biden Invites Israel’s Netanyahu to Meet as Tensions Rise
(Bloomberg) -- President Joe Biden invited Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to meet in the US later this year amid strains between the two longtime allies.
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Netanyahu’s office announced the invitation following a Monday call with Biden, which the White House later confirmed. The two sides did not announce a date or location for the meeting.
The Biden administration has been reluctant to grant the traditional visit for an Israeli premier to Netanyahu, whose right-wing government has drawn criticism and public protests over changes that would weaken the independence of the judiciary.
National Security Council spokesman John Kirby told reporters the meeting would occur “sometime in the fall.” He said Biden reiterated his concerns to Netanyahu about the judicial changes and “the extremist activities and behavior by some members of the Netanyahu cabinet,” even as he invited the Israeli leader to meet.
“Those concerns are still valid. They’re disturbing,” Kirby said.
Netanyahu’s office said earlier in a statement the two leaders “had a long and warm conversation” by phone that focused on bolstering the nations’ strong bond. They discussed Iran, the Palestinian areas and the prime minister’s plan to change the judiciary, according to Israeli government and White House statements.
Read More: Why Israel Is Bitterly Split by a Judiciary Overhaul: QuickTake
The Israeli statement said Biden invited Netanyahu “to meet soon in the United States” and that the prime minister agreed. Both staffs will coordinate details of the meeting, according to US and Israeli officials.
Netanyahu, who was educated in the US and has known Biden for four decades, has been waiting for an invitation from his country’s most important ally since taking office at the end of last year.
It’s customary for an Israeli leader to receive that invitation rapidly. But because his government is the most right-wing and religious in the country’s history and launched a plan to weaken the court system in ways many in the Biden administration consider dangerous to democratic checks and balances, the administration has withheld the offer.
Twice in recent months, Biden was asked about the invitation and both times he said, in effect, not yet.
Israeli President Isaac Herzog, who holds a largely ceremonial post and has a more moderate political history and outlook, is meeting Biden in Washington on Tuesday and is due to address a joint session of Congress on Wednesday. Netanyahu’s aides have made clear that this isn’t a stand-in for a White House meeting by him.
The statements Monday did not specify if the invitation would be to the White House and could possibly be held elsewhere — on the sidelines of the United Nations General Assembly in September, for example.
Netanyahu is Israel’s longest serving prime minister and has been an official guest in the White House numerous times.
The judicial overhaul his government favors will be the object of mass protests in Israel on Tuesday expected to disrupt train and car travel as well as lead some military reservists to vow not to serve.
--With assistance from Jenny Leonard.
(Adds comments from National Security Council spokesman John Kirby starting in fourth paragraph)
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