Chances of Biden-Netanyahu White House meeting diminishing
3 Min Read
Israeli PM Netanyahu's meeting with President Biden at the White House uncertain amid continued conflict on various policies.
-
US Vice President Joe Biden (L) listens to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu (R) talk during joint statements in the prime minister's office in occupied al-Quds, Palestine, on March 9, 2016. (AFP)
Senior Israeli political officials have said that the chances of a meeting between Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and US President Joe Biden at the White House have become last likely, Israeli media outlets reported on Friday.
Israeli Channel 13's correspondent reported that the two men will meet during the United Nations General Assembly in New York which has been scheduled to take place in two weeks.
The correspondent said that Netanyahu was scheduled to address the UN General Assembly on Thursday but his speech was postponed to Friday, September 22, which means that his accompanying delegation will also stay in New York over the weekend and return to "Israel" immediately before Yom Kippur, a Jewish holiday.
She further noted that Netanyahu's visit to the United States is supposed to end an ongoing boycott against him by the White House.
Netanyahu will focus on the Iranian file, judicial reforms, and normalization talks with Saudi Arabia during his visit to the US.
This comes at a time when Israeli and American media have extensively discussed the deteriorating relations between the two governments as reports suggest that ties "no longer make sense" as they are not built on shared values, according to an earlier report by Foreign Policy.
Read more: US, 'Israel': Unprecedented volatile relations to leave permanent scar
Israeli media, in turn, has spoken of an unprecedented collapse in Israeli-American communication channels, as Netanyahu and Israeli ministers have not been invited to visit Washington due to the US's objection to several Israeli policies.
Israeli writer Ben Caspit said that the last visit by Securioty Minister Yoav Galant showcases in fact the broken channels between "Israel" and the Biden administration as Galant did not go anywhere near the White House or the Pentagon during his visit to the US, following the strict orders of Prime Minister Netanyahu.
The occupation's Prime Minister will continue to ban high-level governmental officials from making meetings with senior US officials until he is invited to visit the White House, Caspit explained in an article published in The Monitor.
It is worth noting that Netanyahu previously suggested that Joe Biden holds responsibility for the fact that he has not made a visit to the US yet stressing that he does not stand in the way of communication or cooperation between the two governments.
El Al pilots refuse to fly Netanyahu to New York
Furthermore, El Al Airlines pilots have reportedly come to an agreement not to volunteer to fly Netanyahu and his wife to the United States, as part of their protest against his government's judicial overhaul plan.
This is not the first time that El Al pilots have refused to volunteer to transport Netanyahu. The occupation's Prime Minister experienced similar situations when the Israeli airline's pilots refused to fly him to Paris in February and to Rome in March.
Although the company was capable of flying Netanyahu to Europe, this time around it was faced with a harder task as the flight requires a wide-bodied airliner meaning that 3 professional pilots are needed to operate it, according to Channel 13.
Read more: As Israelis protest, Palestinian rights are thrown out the window
