“Door” Biden to Netanyahu’s visit to the White House

From new to new climax is headed political crisis who experiences it Israel. The Israeli prime minister rejected an appeal by US President Joe Biden, who criticized the controversial reform of the judicial system, which passed the parliament but “froze” days ago due to mass protests. Joe Biden appeared yesterday to write off the prospect of visiting Washington soon Benjamin Netanyahu. Asked if he would invite the head of the far-right Israeli government to the White House, the former replied “not immediately”.

The American President criticized the very controversial reform of the judicial system in Israel promoted by Mr. Netanyahu. “Like many staunch supporters of Israel, I am very concerned. And I’m interested in getting that fixed. They cannot continue on this path,” the US president said when asked about the health of Israeli democracy. The US president added that he hopes the Israeli prime minister will abandon the controversial reform, reports o Guardian.

Benjamin Netanyahu reacted underlining via Twitter that he “appreciates” Mr. Biden’s long support in his country, but “Israel is a sovereign state that makes decisions by virtue of the will of the people and not on the basis of external pressures, even if they come from his best friends.”

Negotiations on the reform of the judicial system are ongoing

For its part, the office of Israeli Prime Minister Isaac Herzog announced that negotiations between the parties of the governing coalition and those of the opposition on the controversial bill for judicial reform in Israel are continuing today, after a first meeting “in a positive spirit” held yesterday, Tuesday, “After about an hour and a half the meeting, which was conducted in a positive spirit, was concluded,” the president’s office said last night. “Tomorrow President Isaac Herzog will continue the series of meetings,” he added.

This first “dialogue meeting” was held at Herzog’s home in Jerusalem between “working groups representing the governing coalition” and the opposition parties Ges Addit and National Unity Party, the statement said. Yair Lapid and Benny Gantz, heads of these two parties, had declared on Monday that they were ready to discuss with the governing coalition, under the auspices of Herzog, APE-MPE reports.

Earlier, right-wing Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu announced he had decided to take a “pause” in advancing the controversial bill to “give real dialogue a chance” and approve the reform by wider consensus in the next parliamentary session, after the Jewish Passover.

“We thank the president for opening his home to the negotiation process for the benefit of the citizens of Israel. We participated in the name of a large part of public opinion that understood the extent to which our democracy is fragile and vulnerable,” Lapid said on Twitter.

For his part, US President Joe Biden, whose government welcomed the “pause” announced by Netanyahu, expressed again last night the hope that the reform would be abandoned. “They cannot continue on this path,” he stressed. “I hope they leave her,” he added.

The “pause” announced by the Israeli prime minister after the start of a general strike in the country and the appearance of tension in the governing coalition was received with reservations by opponents of the reform, but also by many political analysts.