US President Joe Biden personally invited Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to the White House and pledged his support for Israel during a meeting in New York that seemed to ease some of the tensions that have plagued the relationship between the two men for the last seven months.
“Even where we have some differences, my commitment to Israel, you know, is ironclad,” Biden told Netanyahu when the two men sat in a room in a Manhattan hotel on the sidelines of the United Nations General Assembly on Wednesday.
“I think without Israel, there’s not a Jew in the world who is secure. Israel is essential,” Biden said.
The two men have known each other for over 40 years, but Biden has been very public about his disapproval of Netanyahu’s judicial reform plan which opponents fear will transform Israel into a dictatorship.
The West Bank and a two-state solution
Opponents of the plan demonstrated against Netanyahu at every leg of his trip to the United States this week.
They were at the airport when he landed in California on Monday and in front of his hotel when he arrived in New York on Tuesday. Demonstrators also gathered outside the hotel prior to the meeting waving Israeli flags, blowing whistles and calling out “democracy.”
Netanyahu during the trip, his first to the US since taking office, has held high-level meetings including his first ever conversation with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan. The prime minister is also slated to address the UN General Assembly during the high-level portion of the opening of its 78th session.But the meeting with Biden, which lasted for almost an hour and was mostly a private one between the two men, was the most significant moment of the week given that Israeli prime ministers are measured in part by their ability to maintain relations with the White House.US presidents have traditionally extended invitations to Israeli prime ministers after the formation of a new government. Biden, however, chose not to host Netanyahu at the Oval Office due to their disagreements regarding Israel’s judicial reform.The invitation he issued seven months later is seen as a potential step toward soothing some of the troubled diplomatic waters.Biden mentioned democracy at the start of the meeting.“Today, we’re going to discuss some of the hard issues, that is upholding democratic values that lie at the heart of our partnership,” Biden told Netanyahu.This includes, he said, “the checks and balances in our systems.The White House expanded on that statement, adding that Biden “reiterated his concern about any fundamental changes to Israel’s democratic system, absent the broadest consensus possible.”Netanyahu, in turn, swore that he would uphold Israeli democracy.“I want to reassert here, before you, Mr. President, that one thing is certain and one thing will never change, and that is Israel’s commitment to democracy. We will continue to uphold the values that both our proud democracies cherish,” he told Biden.The US president also was careful to emphasize his support for the Palestinians, explaining that it was important to preserve “the path to a negotiated two-state solution.”Biden’s opposition to Israeli settlement-building and to Israel’s policy of demolishing illegal West Bank Palestinian structures has also stoked tensions between Jerusalem and Washington.The White House stressed that during their meeting Biden explained that Israel had to take “immediate measures to improve the security and economic situation, maintain the viability of a two-state solution and promote a just and lasting peace between Israelis and Palestinians.”