President Biden on Monday invited Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of Israel to a meeting in the United States for the first time since Mr. stressful month direction of the Israeli government.
Mr. Netanyahu’s office said Biden made the invitation during a “warm and long” phone call on Monday night, ahead of a visit to Washington by Israeli President Isaac Herzog. Until Monday, that visit had been seen by many as belittling Mr.
The prime minister’s invitation reversed Mr Biden’s decision in March to avoid meeting Mr Netanyahu “for the time being”. But White House officials said the prospect of a face-to-face meeting should not be construed as Mr Biden’s renunciation of some of the Israeli leader’s hardline views.
Mr. Biden recently described Mr. Netanyahu’s coalition as “one of the most radical” since the 1970s and specifically voiced opposition to Mr. Netanyahu’s decisions to undermine the power of the Court. Supreme Israel, expansion of Jewish settlements in the occupied West Bank and retroactively allowed settlements to be built on the territory without government approval.
“You should not deny the fact that they had a conversation today and that they will meet again that we are less concerned about these judicial reforms or less concerned about certain activities and behaviours. extremist behavior by some members of the Netanyahu cabinet. John F. Kirby, spokesman for the National Security Council, told reporters at the White House.
“Those concerns are still valid,” he said.
White House officials declined to directly address the reason the president made the invitation at this time, given that Netanyahu has not made any clear concessions. But Mr. Biden – who has delayed the invitation for months – seems to have assessed that the need to restore a greater sense of normalcy to the United States’ most important alliance in the Middle East outweighs any interests of the United States. continuing to keep Mr. Netanyahu at a distance.
Mr. Biden’s outreach comes just before Mr. Herzog’s visit, which will include a meeting with Mr Biden at the White House on Tuesday and the Israeli president’s speech to Congress on Wednesday.
Herzog’s trip has highlighted US policy towards Israel that has increasingly become a hotbed of domestic politics, with Republicans backing Mr Netanyahu and divisions erupting among Democrats. owner. Several liberal lawmakers said they would boycott Herzog’s speech to protest Israel’s actions against the Palestinians.
Representative Pramila Jayapal, a Washington Democrat and leader of the Radical Caucus of Congress, called Israel “a racist nation” over the weekend, prompting Party leaders Democrats and others condemned before saying she didn’t believe “the idea of seeing Israel as a country is racist.”
White House officials declined to say whether Netanyahu would be invited to the White House, as is customary for a close ally, or only meet Biden on the sidelines of the United Nations General Assembly later. in the fall. No date has been set for the visit.
Mr. Kirby said that the president believes it is important to meet Mr. Netanyahu despite continued concerns about the debate inside Israel about changes to the country’s judicial system.
“President Biden reiterated in light of the current debate in Israel over judicial reform, the need for the broadest possible consensus, and that shared democratic values have always been and must be.” is the hallmark of the US-Israeli relationship,” Kirby said.
The announcement of an invitation to meet between the two leaders disappointed Israel’s opposition parties, who have called for the Biden administration to take an even stronger stance against Netanyahu’s judicial overhaul.
Mr. Netanyahu, the leader of the most right-wing government in Israel’s history, is expected to push ahead with a controversial plan to limited influence of the country’s judiciary. That plan has caused political unrest in Israel and has been strongly criticized by Mr Biden, who has said the US-Israel partnership must be rooted in a the shared democracy approach.
Herzog’s visit to the White House and Capitol Hill, whose position is largely ceremonial, reflects Israel’s long-standing role as an important strategic and military ally of the United States in China. Winter. The United States provides Israel with nearly $3.9 billion in annual aid, large amounts of defense technology and weapons, extensive diplomatic cover at the United Nations Security Council, and critical assistance in build new alliances with Arab countries.
Despite friction with Mr. Netanyahu, the Biden administration continues to reject measures against Israel at the United Nations over its treatment of Palestinians. The White House is also considerable effort investment in mediating the normalization of diplomatic relations between Israel and Saudi Arabia, one of Netanyahu’s top foreign policy goals.
Still, Mr. Biden and his administration have expressed growing frustration at Israel’s increased settlement in the West Bank. The United States views it as a major obstacle to the creation of a Palestinian state alongside Israel – an outcome that remains the Biden administration’s preferred solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, even as more and more The analyst concludes that Palestinian statehood is no longer viable. .
Washington has also balked at the comments of some of Mr. Netanyahu’s more radical cabinet colleagues, notably Bezalel Smotrich, the finance minister, who has said that a Palestinian town at the center of recent violence should be “wiped out” by Israel. Ned Price, then a spokesman for the State Department, called the comments “irresponsible, disgusting and disgusting.”
For some Israelis critical of Mr. Netanyahu, the Biden administration’s position is not strong enough, a perception reinforced by Monday’s invitation. Anti-government protesters have gathered outside the branch offices of the US Embassy in Tel Aviv at least twice in recent days, some of them carrying banners calling on him Biden “Save Us!”
But for Mr. Netanyahu’s supporters, Mr. Biden’s approach has been too forceful. Amichai Chikli, Netanyahu’s minister for overseas affairs, said Biden’s objections had been “arranged and orchestrated in advance by the Israeli opposition”. He also told Mr. Biden’s ambassador, Thomas R. Nidesto “take care of his own business” after the US diplomat asked Mr. Netanyahu to slow down the pace of judicial reform.
On Monday, Yoav Kisch, the education minister, said in a radio interview prior to the announcement of the invitation, “I will tell you most clearly: Of course, Prime Minister Netanyahu’s departure. travel is appropriate” instead of Mr. Herzog.
Mr. Kisch added: “I am very pleased that the president is visiting and I think this is very important.” However, he said, “The bottom line is that this whole event with Biden is most likely motivated and hyped by elements inside the state of Israel,” referring to Mr. Netanyahu’s opponents.
The relationship between the United States and Israel often goes through periods of tension. In the 1950s, the Eisenhower administration clashed with David Ben-Gurion, Israel’s first prime minister, over a brief invasion of Egypt.
During the 1970s, the Ford administration cooled relations due to Israel’s reluctance to withdraw from territory it captured from Egypt in 1967. During the 1990s, Presidents George H.W. Bush and Bill Clinton clashed with Israel’s successor prime ministers, including Mr. Netanyahu, on settlement building.
Two decades later, Mr. Netanyahu is at odds with President Barack Obama — especially after Mr. Netanyahu delivered a joint address to Congress without Obama’s consent.
But while most previous disagreements were limited to specific geopolitical differences – often over Egypt, Iran or the Palestinians – the Biden-Netanyahu spat was different because it was partly regarding disputes over values, said Itamar Rabinovich, a former expert. Israeli Ambassador to Washington.
Mr. Biden has suggested that Mr. Netanyahu’s plan to restrict the judiciary would change the character of Israeli democracy and thus undermine the perception that the US-Israeli alliance is rooted in a shared view of governance. .
“The previous differences were due to policy,” said Mr. Rabinovich. “This dispute concerns the nature of Israel.”
Critics of Mr. Netanyahu himself have predicted that Mr. Herzog’s visit will soften Mr. Biden’s approach to the prime minister.
Mr. Herzog was a political rival of Mr. Netanyahu, compete with him for the position of prime minister in 2015. But he is also considered a bridge builder tried to find common ground this year between the government and its opponents. Some worry that Mr. Herzog, in an attempt to defuse tensions, might convince Mr. Biden to cool his stance on Mr. Netanyahu.
To illustrate that point, some protesters staged edited images of Mr. Netanyahu using Mr. Herzog’s face as a mask.
Ben Caspit, a biographer and critic of Mr. Netanyahu, issued the warning directly to Mr. Herzog in an article on Monday. Caspit wrote: “I have only one request for you, President Herzog. “When you’re in the White House, you’re not there as Benjamin Netanyahu’s attorney. You are there as an attorney for the State of Israel. Your job is not to ‘sell’ Netanyahu to Biden.”
For his part, Mr. Herzog tried to de-politicize his trip. Over the weekend, his office released a statement saying he would use the trip to highlight the threat posed by Iran, and would be accompanied by Leah Goldin, the mother of a soldier killed in the war. Gaza in 2014 and whose remains are kept by militants in the Palestinian enclave.
“I look forward to representing the whole nation of Israel as President of the State of Israel,” Herzog said in the statement.
Patrick Kingsley reports from Jerusalem, and Michael D. Cut from Washington. Gabby Sobelman Reporting contributions from Rehovot, Israel, and Myra Noveck from Jerusalem.
