For the first time since Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of Israel returned to office last December, he and President Biden met face to face on Wednesday in a session that both soothed and aggravated monthslong tensions between the leaders and demonstrated Mr. Biden’s wider commitment to Israeli security.
By ending his informal moratorium on in-person contact with Mr. Netanyahu, Mr. Biden showed he was prepared to overlook personal frustrations with the prime minister’s domestic policies in favor of furthering international projects of mutual U.S.-Israeli interest: blocking Iran from building a nuclear weapon and establishing formal relations for the first time between Israel and Saudi Arabia.
“Even when we have our differences, my commitment to Israel is ironclad,” Mr. Biden said at the start of the meeting, pledging to ensure “that Iran never, never secures a nuclear weapon.”
Mr. Biden also hinted that Mr. Netanyahu might be invited to a more formal meeting at the White House within months — a major boost for the prime minister.
“I hope we will see each other in Washington by the end of the year,” the president said. Later, the White House issued a statement saying that Mr. Biden had extended a formal invitation.
But other comments by Mr. Biden, made before the meeting, made clear that the relationship remains thorny. He voiced measured criticism of Mr. Netanyahu’s efforts to reduce the power of Israel’s Supreme Court, which have set off one of the worst domestic crises in Israeli history.
Mr. Biden also pushed Mr. Netanyahu to preserve the possibility of creating a Palestinian state, implicitly criticizing several recent moves by Mr. Netanyahu’s government to entrench Israeli control of the West Bank.
“Today we’re going to discuss some of the hard issues: upholding democratic values that lie at the heart of our partnership, including checks and balances in our systems, and preserving the path to a negotiated two-state solution,” Mr. Biden said at the start of the meeting.
His comments reflected the deep frustration in Washington over Mr. Netanyahu’s efforts to reduce the power of Israel’s judiciary.
U.S. officials are also frustrated at Mr. Netanyahu’s plans to build record numbers of Israeli homes and buildings in the Israeli-occupied West Bank, and to retroactively legalize unauthorized settlements built in the territory by Israeli civilians. Both actions will make it harder to create a Palestinian state, and also risk making Saudi Arabia warier of reaching a deal with Israel.
The meeting was private — and Mr. Biden and Mr. Netanyahu spent about 15 minutes alone, without aides — but U.S. and Israeli officials later said it focused on Iran’s nuclear enrichment program, which both men oppose but disagree on how to combat, and U.S.-led efforts to normalize relations between Israel and Saudi Arabia.
In the moments before the meeting began, Mr. Biden said to Mr. Netanyahu: “If you and I, 10 years ago, were…
2023-09-20 13:44:42
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