U.S. President Joe Biden talked with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on a wide range of issues—just days before Mr. Biden meets with Israeli President Isaac Herzog.
Notably, Mr. Biden and Mr. Netanyahu discussed “close coordination [between the U.S. and Israel] to counter Iran, including through regular and ongoing joint military exercises,” and that the U.S.-Israel alliance is key to stopping Iran from getting a nuclear weapon, according to the White House.
Mr. Biden “stressed the need” for a two-state solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict “and improve the security situation in the West Bank.” Just weeks ago, Israel conducted an anti-terrorism operation in Jenin, a city in the West Bank, also known as Judea and Samaria, notorious for harboring Palestinian terrorism.
Mr. Biden, according to the White House, “welcomed Israel’s willingness to consider new steps to support Palestinian livelihoods, and recognized promising steps by the Palestinian Authority to reassert security control in Jenin and other areas of the West Bank.”
Additionally, Mr. Biden expressed concerns over Israel building neighborhoods in the West Bank, per the White House.
Moreover, Mr. Biden and Mr. Netanyahu concurred on building upon Middle East peace, according to the White House. Almost three years ago, Israel normalized ties with the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain, Morocco, and Sudan in what is known as the Abraham Accords.
Israel’s Judiciary
As it pertained to Mr. Netanyahu’s efforts to change Israel’s judiciary, especially its supreme court, Mr. Biden “reiterated, in the context of the current debate in Israel about judicial reform, the need for the broadest possible consensus, and that shared democratic values have always been and must remain a hallmark of the U.S.-Israel relationship,” per the White House.In March, Mr. Biden said he wouldn’t invite Mr. Netanyahu to the White House “in the near term” because of Mr. Netanyahu’s attempt to change Israel’s judiciary. In response to Mr. Biden shutting the door on a meeting with Mr. Netanyahu in the near future, House Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) said in May that he would invite Mr. Netanyahu to Congress if Mr. Biden doesn’t reverse course.
Mr. McCarthy reiterated that promise on July 17 when asked by The Epoch Times whether he tried to invite Mr. Netanyahu to Congress before inviting Mr. Herzog to speak.
“We invited Herzog in the last Congress to come based upon the 75th anniversary. So the President of Israel’s coming has nothing to do with Bibi Netanyahu,“ said Mr. McCarthy. ”But I have said when I was in Israel speaking at the Knesset, if President Biden snubs Prime Minister Netanyahu, I will gladly invite Netanyahu to America.”
Mr. McCarthy did not say whether Mr. Netanyahu would address a joint session of Congress were he to visit despite having been asked by The Epoch Times whether that would be the case.
The discussion between Mr. Biden and Mr. Netanyahu comes a week after CNN aired an interview with Mr. Biden where the U.S. president described Mr. Netanyahu’s cabinet as extreme.
“This is one of the most extremist members of cabinets that I’ve seen. I go all the way back to Golda Meir and—you know, not that she was extreme, but I go back to that era,” Mr. Biden told Fareed Zakaria.
‘Racist State’
The call between Mr. Biden and Mr. Netanyahu comes one day after Congressional Progressive Caucus Chair Pramila Jayapal (D-Wash.) called Israel a “racist state.” Ms. Jayapal has since backtracked, though fallen short of giving an outright apology over her comments, which she made at a progressive conference.“As somebody who’s been in the streets and participated in a lot of demonstrations, I want you to know that we have been fighting to make it clear that Israel is a racist state,” Ms. Jayapal told pro-Palestinian demonstrators at the annual conference for the progressive organization Netroots Nation on July 16.
“That the Palestinian people deserve self-determination and autonomy, that the dream of a two-state solution is slipping away from us, that it does not even feel possible,” she continued.
However, Ms. Jayapal later reversed course, saying the Jewish state is not racist, but Mr.Netanyahu and his government are.
“At a conference, I attempted to defuse a tense situation during a panel where fellow members of Congress were being protested. Words do matter and so it is important that I clarify my statement,” she said in a statement, which was not an outright apology.
“I do not believe the idea of Israel as a nation is racist,” continued Ms. Jayapal. “I do, however, believe that Netanyahu’s extreme right-wing government has engaged in discriminatory and outright racist policies and that there are extreme racists driving that policy within the leadership of the current government.
“I believe it is incumbent on all of us who are striving to make our world a more just and equitable place to call out and condemn these policies and this current Netanyahu government’s role in furthering them.”
Ms. Jayapal reiterated her call for a two-state solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. She explained that her response at the conference was her “responding to the deep pain and hopelessness that exists for Palestinians and their diaspora communities when it comes to this debate, but I in no way intended to deny the deep pain and hurt of Israelis and their Jewish diaspora community that still reels from the trauma of pogroms and persecution, the Holocaust, and continuing antisemitism and hate violence that is rampant today.”
