United States President Joe Biden has invited Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to his home country, which would mark the first meeting between the two international leaders since the latter won re-election last December.
The Israeli prime minister's office acknowledged that the Biden administration invited him to the United States after a "warm and long" phone call on Monday evening. It was the eve of a visit to Washington by Israeli President Isaac Herzog.
Washington Invites Netanyahu to a Meeting
Biden's invitation to Netanyahu reversed his decision in March, where he said he would avoid any meeting with the Israeli prime minister "in the near term." The Democrat had made recent slights at Netanyahu's coalition as "one of the most extremist" since the 1970s.
The American president also expressed his opposition to the Israeli prime minister's decision to undermine the power of the Israeli Supreme Court, build more homes in the occupied West Bank, and retroactively authorize Israeli settlements built in the region without approval from the government, as per the New York Times.
In a statement, a spokesman for the National Security Council, John Kirby, said that Biden reiterated in the context of the current debate in Israel regarding judicial reform that there needs to be a broad consensus. He added that the US president noted that shared democratic values have always been the hallmark of the U.S.-Israel relationship.
The announcement of the invitation came, however, as a disappointment to Israel's opposition, who had repeatedly urged the Biden administration to take an even stronger stance against Netanyahu's judicial reform plans.
The situation comes as Netanyahu leads the most right-wing government in the history of Israel and is expected to move forward with his plan to limit the Israeli Supreme Court's influence in his nation's judiciary. The reform has stirred political unrest within the country and received criticism from Biden.
Strained US-Israel Relationship
Kirby said that while the invitation was sent to Netanyahu's team, the details of the expected meeting remain to be set, but a date is estimated to be sometime before the end of this year. According to CNN, he added that the meeting would occur during autumn in the United States.
The strategic communications director at the National Security Council said that the two leaders had known each other for a long time. He noted that they are friends who should speak honestly, openly, forthrightly, and candidly regarding global issues they must tackle.
The invitation also comes as the US tries to agree with Iran to prevent it from becoming a nuclear powerhouse. Israel believes the tentative agreement would not be nearly strong enough to curb Iran's plan to produce atomic weapons.
Despite the announcement, Netanyahu's office did not say whether or not the meeting between the two leaders would occur at the White House. There are rumors that it could happen on the sidelines of high-level sessions at the United Nations General Assembly scheduled for the fall in New York, said the Jerusalem Post.
