Biden, Netanyahu trade furious exchange regarding judicial reforms
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The US President faces criticism from Netanyahu and Knesset members after his recent comments on judicial reforms.
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Israeli PM Benjamin Netanyahu (L) and US President Joe Biden (R), seen in Switzerland in 2016, Michel Euler (AP).
Attempts to pacify the aggression within Israeli politics by Zionist political elites have not been reciprocated by the US. In an unprecedented statement, President Joe Biden, criticized the far-right coalition's push for judiciary reforms, announcing that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu will not be invited to the White House in the “near term”.
National Security Council Spokesperson John Kirby said that Biden’s call for Netanyahu to “walk away [from judicial reforms]” coincides with the US position on the necessity of compromising and reaching a consensus “with respect to these, these potential judicial reforms.”
A rare public exchange took place between Benjamin Netanyahu and #JoeBiden which signaled rising tension between "Israel" and the US, two close allies, over the Israeli Prime Minister's judicial reforms. pic.twitter.com/6OoTpgq6KR
— Al Mayadeen English (@MayadeenEnglish) March 29, 2023
According to Newsweek, progressive members of the Democratic Party pressured Biden to “undertake a shift in US policy” towards “Israel’s” new extreme right wing.
Inversely, Senators Nick Haley, who will face Trump in the upcoming 2024 Republican presidential primaries, and Ted Cruz, among others, have been critical of Biden's remarks.
Although Netanyahu has ordered the coalition ministers to remain silent regarding the judicial reforms, Knesset member Dan Illouz sent a letter to members of the US congress claiming that "the statement given yesterday crosses a red line in the relationship between our two great countries."
According to Illouz, the letter was sent to Republicans and Democrats based on Netanyahu's orders.
Commenting on Biden’s statement, Knesset member Osher Shekalim said, “I respect the US President. But on the other hand, he needs to know that Netanyahu will not display the spinelessness we saw from Lapid and Bennett.”
Earlier last week, US-Israeli relations deteriorated to reach an all-time low, only three months after Netanyahu assumed office.
After weeks of increased tensions over the judicial reform legislation, the US reportedly summoned the Israeli ambassador in Washington Mike Herzog in protest of the law passed today repealing the decision to disengage Israeli settlements from the north of the West Bank, according to Axios.
Officials in the Biden administration told Axios that they had long anticipated a conflict with Netanyahu's government but had made every effort to postpone it. Kenesset’s decision to repeal the 2005 disengagement law was the last straw. The White House described it as a “provocation” and a violation of the commitments pledged by "Israel" to the US.
On his part, Netanyahu slammed the White House’s criticism of the repeal. He described the law as “discriminatory and humiliating to the Jews” such that it forbids them from “living” in what he described as " their historic homeland."
The White House has long been weary of Netanyahu’s decisions and appointments for ministerial posts, however, the latter chose to brush off these concerns for the sake of strategic cooperation on common interests in the region, i.e. contending Iran and proliferating the normalization agreements also called the "Abraham Accords".
