Biden: Israel can’t continue this way, no Netanyahu White House invite

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu won’t be invited to the White House in the “near term,” US President Joe Biden told reporters in North Caroline on Tuesday, as he continued to express his opposition to Israel’s judicial reform plan.

“They can not continue on this road. I have sort of made that clear,” Biden said.

“I hope he [Netanyhau] walks away from it,” Biden told reporters.

Earlier in the day a US National Security Advisor spokesperson also clarified that “there is no plan for PM Netanyahu to visit Washington.”

“Israeli leaders have a long tradition of visiting Washington, and PM Netanyahu will likely visit at some point,” the spokesperson said.

THEN-US vice president Joe Biden prepares to sign the guest book before his meeting with then-prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu at the Prime Minister’s Residence in Jerusalem in 2010 (credit: RONEN ZVULUN/REUTERS)

Prime Minister Netanyahu said in response, “I have known President Biden for over 40 years and I appreciate his longstanding commitment to Israel.

“The alliance between Israel and the US is strong and it always overcomes the differences of opinion that appear between us from time to time,” Netanyahu said as he defended his judicial reform program which critics warn is weakening Israeli democracy.

“The government led by me is committed to strengthening democracy by restoring the proper balance between the three authorities, which we strive to achieve with broad consensus,” Netanyahu said.

“Israel is an independent country that makes its decisions according to the will of its citizens and not based on external pressures, including our best friends,” he added.

Minister Miki Zohar (Likud) tweed, “It breaks my heart to see how much damage has been done to Israel from all the fake news that has been spread in connection with our justified legal reform.”

When Netanyahu returned to office after an 18-month hiatus, it was expected that one of his first foreign trips would be to meet with Biden.

US Ambassador to Israel Tom Nides often spoke of how a trip was forthcoming in the near future, but never set a date. Similar statements were echoed in Washington.

In 2009, when Netanyahu entered office on March 31, he went to the United States to meet Obama in May, less than two months later.

But when he was re-elected in 2013 and formed a new government, it took almost a year before he visited Obama in the White House.

Still, the absence of an invitation has garnered media attention in Israel as a possible symptom of tensions with Washington over Netanyahu’s judicial reform and his government’s actions and statements with regard to the West Bank and Palestinians.

The United States, including Secretary of State Antony Blinken and Biden, have also urged Netanyahu to take a consensus approach to his judicial reform plan.

Downplaying the absence of invitation

In an interview with Channel 12 on Tuesday Nides downplayed the absence of a Washington invitation.

“I would bet you the Prime Minister has been to Washington more than any single foreign leader combined,” Nides said noting that Netanyahu in the past has had no lack of White House innovations.

“He probably knows the White House better than I do. He has no lack of invitations to the White House. He and Joe Biden go back close to 40 years,” Nides said, adding, “I have no doubt they will spend time together.”

He emphasized that an invitation would eventually be forthcoming, but that no date had been set for such a visit.

He said he welcomed Netanyahu’s decision to suspend the passage of a critical reform bill to allow for a month of consensus talks.

US VICE-PRESIDENT Joe Biden with then-prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu in Jerusalem, in 2016. (credit: DEBBIE HILL/POOL/REUTERS)

“We want to see the country come together with a compromise to slow things down,” Nides said. “That is what I think the Prime Minister is going to do,” he said.

“I take the Prime Minister at his word,” Nides said adding that he believed Netanyahu “wants to create an opportunity to bring the country together and we welcome that.”

The relationship between the United States and Israel is very close, Nides said, explaining that at his embassy “we spend an enormous amount of time every day talking to the PM’s Office and they talk to our office.” It’s akin to a family connection, he added.

Nides rejected an allegation by Netanyahu’s son Yair, that the US State Department was funding the anti-judicial reform protests.

Nides called the claim “absurd” and “ridiculous,” adding that it was not true.

When asked about Defense Minister Yoav Gallant, he said, “I liked the Defense Minister a great deal. He is a smart, shrewd guy. He is a great Defense Minister.”

Nides spoke as Netanyahu is weighing whether to make good on his statement that he planned to fire Gallant for speaking out against the judicial reform process.