The Promise of the Future: Netanyahu’s “Bibi” Voted to be the King of Israel and his “Frah-Right” Coalition
If Netanyahu wins, he could potentially form a government with religious and far- right partners that would weaken the independence of the judiciary, and even promote policies against Palestinian Arab citizens.
The Gvir-dominated Religious Zionism bloc sees participation in the government as a way to legitimize his movement, expand his base and his own political horizons. He started his speech by declaring he is not the prime minister. And Netanyahu surely will try mightily to keep this coalition together in order to secure his get-out-of-jail-free card through legislation.
Lapid campaigned with center-left allies, arguing he would keep right-wing extremism at bay. Netanyahu promised Israelis a sense of security after Palestinians killed 25 Israelis this year. Israeli troops have killed more than 130 Palestinian militants and civilians during the same period, the deadliest toll in several years.
Liron Gur is a gay Israeli voter and he said that the right side dislikes gay people and Arabs. “I believe if they will be the power, my life will be very bad.”
Some right-wing voters said they were abandoning their support for Netanyahu and his allies when they voted in Jerusalem.
“We don’t believe him, we’ll vote for the Labor party,” says Udi Avni, a cab driver who for the first time won’t vote for Netanyahu. He cares about himself, just like any other person. His trial was to be free.
“We are on the cusp of a very big victory,” Netanyahu — known by his nickname Bibi — told supporters after exit polls were released. They cheered, “Bibi, King of Israel.”
Haim Asher said his hopes were that Judaism would win and that Netanyahu would win in the end. “It doesn’t really matter who is the prime minister.” There is a desire for a Jewish identity in the country.
The leader of the conservative party is trying to get a majority in the Knesset, or parliament. Ben-Gvir has said that Arabs should be kicked out of Israel. About 20% of Israel’s population are Palestinians with Israeli citizenship. He said in an Israeli TV interview that disloyal Arabs should be thrown out. Another prospective government minister is a lawmaker who has challenged the rights of people who identify as LGBTQ.
“I held hope that I could do my job and make our life better, that I could collect people and bring together people and that’s all I was thinking,” Alkadi says. “But I am sorry to tell you that I feel disconnected to the reality, and Israel’s going to a sad, dark, bad place.”
According to the director of the nonpartisan Israel Democracy Institute, major changes to the checks and balances of the judiciary by the Netanyahu-led hard-right government could help him avoid imprisonment in his corruption trial.
“It’s a government that’s expected to have an unprecedented agenda that will, if implemented, contribute to an erosion of Israeli democracy,” Plesner says.
So bewildering is the rush of news around the world today, and so radical is the discourse, that sober-minded observers are often inclined to take a step back and assume all angers will subside. It is not a good thing to be optimistic about what is happening in Israel.
The author of the book “The End of Greatness” is a senior fellow at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace. Miller was involved in Middle East negotiations in both the Democrats and Republicans. His own opinions are expressed in this commentary. Read more opinion on CNN.
Bill Murray might have been hired as a technical adviser to the central elections committee, if he had not been from Saturday Night Live. The polling showed that Israel would be headed for its fifth hung election in four years, and based on the previous polls it seemed like that would be the case.
This election was crucial to Netanyahu. Had he failed to secure a governing majority – one that is likely to pass legislation to postpone or even cancel his trial – he may well have had to face the consequences of a guilty verdict or a plea bargain that would have driven him away from politics.
In Israel the Labor Party has left the left and center-left with only a handful of seats in the Knesset.
But while polling had predicted that the Religious Zionism – a bloc of three extremist parties that collectively embody a racist, Jewish supremacist, anti-Arab and homophobic view – would do well in the election, the extent of their success was nonetheless stunning.
Extremism and the twoultra-Orthodox parties have a long list of demands that the new prime minister is beholden to. He is a minority within his own government as the right wing andultras have as many or more seats as he did.
Netanyahu agreed to the creation of a national guard that was under Ben Gvir’s control. A separate militia at the center of the dispute could turn violence into something worse, if it’s given to the minister.
This kind of narrow right-wing government may not last, for one person. But there may be more that binds this coalition together than divides it. The Orthodox parties are looking to get more support for their religious schools because of the fact that they’ve been out of power.
How will the government act? It is safe to say that the 70th anniversary next year will not make Israel any more effective in tackling its domestic and foreign policy challenges. At home, Israel will be increasingly polarized, with an independent judiciary and rule of law under serious threat.
Critics of the changes worry that if the politicians have more control, the rights of minorities in Israel, especially Palestinians living in Israel, would be impacted.
The opposition politicians have said they will only meet with Netanyahu after the legislative process is stopped.
Biden is likely to speak to Netanyahu in the coming days, according to a US official. The official said that the timing could change as the administration takes a closer look at the dynamics of domestic politics that pose risks for anything that can be seen as an attempt to dictate the path ahead.
Benjamin Netanyahu, Ben-Gvir, and the Israelis’ Debate on the Two-State Solution of the Second Intifada
The conventional explanations don’t explain the real reasons for this shift. The second intifada discouraged many Jews in Israel from trying to achieve peace with the Palestinians. But the subsequent decade and a half, during most of which Mr. Netanyahu was prime minister, largely insulated most Israelis from the consequences of their government maintaining an indefinite occupation of the West Bank and siege of the Gaza Strip. Support for a two-state solution practically evaporated, and the issue nearly disappeared from Israeli discourse.
But the electrifying events of the past few weeks across that small but pivotal Middle Eastern country offer one of the sharpest rebukes to date to those who may believe democracy is a moribund system. Indeed, the trajectory of Israel’s crisis is filled with lessons for democracy’s supporters across the globe.
Benjamin Netanyahu, soon expected to return to office as Israel’s prime minister, is defending his effort to assemble a government with far-right ultranationalists.
In an interview with NPR’s Morning Edition, Netanyahu offered his most extensive defense to date of his decision to accept Ben-Gvir, who was convicted in 2007 of supporting an anti-Arab group that Israel and the US classify as a terrorist organization.
Netanyahu is a dominant Israeli figure of the past half-century, serving first as an elite commando, then as an opposition politician and eventually as prime minister for a total of 15 years — longer than any other leader in his country’s history. During his time out of power he completed a memoir, titled Bibi, which is his nickname. He spoke with NPR about the book and insisted he does not enjoy being in coalition talks.
He said that all politics is cruel. “Israeli politics is crueler than most. I’ve been subjected, especially my family, to endless vilification because I keep winning elections.”
Well, first of all, his eligibility was decided by the Supreme Court. … He’s had a change of views since then. I agree with you that with power comes responsibility. Sometimes, it works the other way around. In politics and in governance, it is one thing to speak in campaigns a decade and a half ago and another to actually be in a role of responsibility. You ask about the well.
One thing that we’ve seen is the erosion of internal security in Israel. It’s a big issue. I have to say his party ran on that. He says, “I want to be tested. I think I can give security to everyone. That was his campaign promise. We have a coalition. I made a promise that you will get the chance. You’ll get the tools. You better do the job. And I think that time will see.
Are you saying that Arabs in Israel should be allowed to trust this man who has said that they should be expelled?
No, I don’t think anybody should trust anybody based on their promises. He doesn’t say that right now, by the way. … But I think what will be the test is not whether you believe him or not, but whether you see an actual result. The same is true of me. The jury is out on all of this.
Is Complete Sovereignty the Only Way of Preserving Israel’s Integrability? A Comment on Biden on the Issue of Independence
Well, yes, my formula is very simple. … We can defend a peace that will hold. And the one that we can defend is one in which the Palestinians have all the powers to govern themselves, but none of the powers to threaten our life, which means that security, in whatever political arrangements we’ll have realistically will have to remain in Israel’s hands.
I don’t think so for a minute. I say that openly. Biden was vice president when he was friend of 40 years. And he said to me, “But Bibi, that’s not complete sovereignty.” I told Joe that that’s the only one that will still be around.
Source: https://www.npr.org/2022/12/15/1142813395/israel-benjamin-netanyahu-government
Left and Right: The Importance of Israel’s West Bank Settlement Outposts for Peace and Security in a Left-Right Scenario
We’ve had some disagreements but Joe Biden has been a great friend. He always says, “Bibi, I love you.” I don’t agree with you on a lot of things. That is not true. We agree on quite a few things. I have a suspicion that this has something to do with the events in Iran and the changing attitudes of both the left and right in the country. I have a clear feeling that today in Washington, people understand that the way to go is not to return to the flawed nuclear agreement, but in fact, to adopt a much more resolute attitude.
The move raises the stakes even more in a national controversy, which sent tens of thousands of demonstrators onto Israel’s streets, caused military reservists to refuse to train, and prompted criticism from business and financial leaders, former military and intelligence commanders, and the US President Joe Biden.
Netanyahu’s promise to legalized wildcat settlement outposts in the coalition agreement was made with the help of the Religious Zionism party. He also vows to annex the West Bank while considering the international and national interests of Israel.
Controversial judicial reforms as well as generous stipends for ultra-Orthodox men who prefer to study instead of work are included in the coalition agreements that were released a day before the government’s swearing in.
The package laid the groundwork for what is expected to be a stormy beginning for the country’s most religious and right-wing government in history, potentially putting it at odds with large parts of the Israeli public, rankling Israel’s closest allies and escalating tensions with the Palestinians.
The chief legal officer of the Movement for Quality Government in Israel, Tomer Naor, is worried that the agreements will change the democratic structure of Israel. “One day we’ll all wake up and Netanyahu is not going to be prime minister, but some of these changes will be irreversible.”
The guidelines made it known that they wanted to “advance and develop settlement in all parts of the land of Israel.”
Most of the international community considers Israel’s West Bank settlements illegal and an obstacle to peace with the Palestinians. The United States already has warned the incoming government against taking steps that could further undermine hopes for an independent Palestinian state.
In response to a request for comment, the Palestinian leadership emphasized that the Israeli-Palestinian conflict can be resolved only through the establishment of a Palestinian state with east Jerusalem as its capital.
Without a negotiated two-state solution, “there will be no peace, security or stability in the region,” said Nabil Abu Rdeneh, a spokesman for Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas.
The New Israel’s Government Will Make West Bank Expansion a Priori: A Palestinian Perspective on Ben-Gvir’s Case
The deal also grants favors to Itamar Ben-Gvir, a far-right politician who will be in charge of the national police force as the newly created national security minister.
The government will vastly increase funding for settlements in the West Bank city of Hebron, where a small ultranationalist Jewish community lives surrounded by tens of thousands of Palestinians. Ben-Gvir lives in a nearby settlement.
The agreement includes a pledge to change the country’s anti-discrimination laws to allow businesses to refuse service due to a religious belief.
The law drew outrage when members of the Ben-Gvir’s party said that the law could be used to deny services to the lesbian, gay, bisexual, and queer population. Netanyahu left a clause in the coalition agreement in order to not allow the law to pass.
But he leveled criticism at the “feckless military government” that controls key aspects of life for Israeli settlements — such as construction, expansion and infrastructure projects. Smotrich is expected to push to expand the construction of settlements, while discouraging Palestinian development in the territory.
In an op-ed published in the Wall Street Journal, Smotrich said there would be no “changing the political or legal status” of the West Bank, indicating that annexation would not immediately take place.
“Since (the new government’s) intention is to weaken the Supreme Court, we’re not going to have the court as an institution that would help guard the principles of freedom and equality,” Yohanan Plesner, president of the Israel Democracy Institute, a Jerusalem think tank, told reporters.
Source: https://www.npr.org/2022/12/29/1145952664/benjamin-netanyahus-new-israeli-government-will-make-west-bank-expansion-a-prior
Israel’s status of the Jerusalem flashpoint shrine will be changed (with exceptions of the king Abdullah II) if it becomes permanent
Two of Netanyahu’s key ministers — incoming interior minister Aryeh Deri and Ben-Gvir — have criminal records. Deri, who served time in prison in 2002 for bribery, pleaded guilty to tax fraud earlier this year, and Netanyahu and his coalition passed a law this week to allow him to serve as a minister despite his conviction. Ben-Gvir was convicted in 2009 of inciting racism and supporting a terrorist organization.
Israel’s figurehead president, Isaac Herzog, on Wednesday expressed “deep concern” about the incoming government and its positions on LGBTQ rights, racism and the country’s Arab minority in a rare meeting with Ben-Gvir, one of the coalition’s most radical members. Herzog urged Ben-Gvir to “calm the stormy winds.”
The government platform also mentioned that the loosely defined rules governing holy sites, including Jerusalem’s flashpoint shrine known to Jews as the Temple Mount and to Muslims as the Al-Aqsa Mosque compound, would remain the same.
The “status quo” risked inflaming tensions with the Palestinians if it was changed to allow Jewish prayer at the site. The status of the site is the emotional epicenter of the decades-long Israeli-Palestinian conflict.
In an interview with CNN published on Wednesday, King Abdullah II of Jordan warned that his country would take action if Israel tried to change the status of the Jerusalem site.
Editor’s Note: Dan Perry was The Associated Press’ top editor in the Middle East, based in Cairo between 2012 and 2018, and before that he led the AP in Europe and Africa from London. He is a former chairman of the Foreign Press Association in Jerusalem and author of two books about Israel. The opinions expressed in this commentary are his own. You can view more opinions on CNN.
Netanyahu labeled the court proceedings against him a witch hunt, when he proclaimed his innocence. Notably, he insisted throughout the 2022 campaign that no hasty and extreme assault on the judicial system, nor any machinations to end his trial, would take place.)
The Palestinians, Israelis, and the Israeli government: What does the judiciary tell us about the state of Israel, how to protect minorities, and how to prevent civil liberties
In a country without a real constitution (instead, a series of “basic laws” that are easy to enact and alter) and with a unicameral parliament, this could easily mean the end of civil rights and minority guarantees. In other words, if a future government is not implementing dangerous abuses of power without judicial review — say, banning Palestinian or Arab citizens of Israel from voting — it would only be because it chooses not to do so.
According to polling released in February by the Israel Democracy Institute, only a minority of Israelis support the reforms. The vast majority of people want a compromise to be reached and the Supreme Court should have the power to strike down laws, even if the method of appointing judges is the same as it is.
Moreover, the court system has also been the main protector from total subjugation of some 3 million West Bank and East Jerusalem Palestinians — who have been in effect ruled by Israel for 55 years and lack the right to vote. Given this, plus separate but related plans to increase Jewish settlement activity and hand most dealings with the Palestinians to the country’s top nationalists, the military warns a third Palestinian uprising is imminent.
The Israeli economy is dependent on the people in the streets protesting against the judicial changes. “It’s the high-tech industry, it’s academia, a lot of people are from the high ranks of the military.”
S&P says the legislative reforms will negatively affect Israel’s credit rating, while the former head of the Bank of Israel, a top JPMorgan Chase official, warns the country is in “danger of losing everything.” Money has already begun flowing out of the country amid fears a collapse of rule of law would undermine contractual law and property rights.
Courts play a key role in deciding how people live, because Israel does not have a written constitution and it never established a Bill of Rights that guarantees essential rights and freedoms. Instead, the country operates according to a set of basic laws.
The government wants to give itself a bigger role in selecting judges, a process that involves a judicial selection committee. The proposed changes would grant the government a say in appointing some justices to the Supreme Court. Some politicians have a less than majority vote on the selection committee.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, Attorney General Gali Baharav-Miara, and the Supreme Court: Israel’s Prime Minister is Unfit for Office
Bennett is a responsible one and a nationalist at the same time. Everyone who is interested in the stability of a nuclear power should take note of Israel’s friends worldwide and speak up.
This is a rare occurrence in history where an important country in a unstable region is on the verge of undoing itself.
Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu acted illegally by announcing Thursday that he would involve himself directly in his government’s moves to change the country’s judicial system, Attorney General Gali Baharav-Miara told him in an open letter Friday.
You publicly announced that you intend to violate the ruling of the Supreme Court and act contrary to the opinion of the legal advisor to the government. That statement, she said, “is illegal and contaminated by a conflict of interest.”
Although several bills could affect Netanyahu it is the one about declaring a prime minister “unfit for office” that has the biggest implication for the Israeli prime minister.
Hours later, Netanyahu said in a speech to the nation that he would get personally involved in the controversial package of measures to overhaul the country’s judicial system. Until then, the campaign had been publicly led by Netanyahu allies including Justice Minister Yaniv Levin and Simcha Rothman, the chair of the Knesset’s Constitution, Law and Justice Committee.
My hands were not free from tie for a long time. No more. Netanyahu said in his speech Thursday night that he would do everything in his power to reach a solution and calm the spirits of the nation.
Baharav-Miara’s letter referred to a court-mandated conflict of interest agreement that Netanyahu accepted in order to allow him to form a government despite being on trial for multiple allegations of corruption.
She told him that as a Prime Minister indicted with crimes, he had to refrain from actions that aroused a fear of a conflict of interest between his personal interests and his role as Prime Minister.
The source close to Netanyahu denied he broke the law or violated his conflict of interest agreement when he was in London to meet the UK Prime Minister.
The Israeli Parliament and Supreme Court: How Israeli Courts Are Determined to Rule on Israel’s Judiciary Powers and Judges’ Choices
mass street protests and strike action were called after Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu abruptly fired Defense Minister Yoav Gallant over his opposition to the planned changes.
Defending his plans, the prime minister has pointed to countries like the United States, where politicians control which federal judges are appointed and approved.
A key demand was a judicial overhaul that would, among things, allow the Israeli Parliament – the Knesset – to overturn certain Supreme Court rulings with a simple majority vote and to give the ruling parties control of judicial appointments.
The reforms were introduced at the beginning of January, with Justice Minister Yariv Levin saying they went to the polls, voted and people didn’t vote for them.
The bill, which has already been voted through, makes it harder for a Prime Minister to be declared not fit for office, restricts the reason for being fit and requires either the prime minister own or two-thirds of the cabinet to vote for such a declaration.
If Israel’s courts are undermined, international courts could no longer recognize their full authority and Israeli soldiers could be liable in war crimes cases.
Palestinians in the occupied West Bank could be affected, and of course Palestinian citizens of Israel or those who hold residency cards would be directly affected. Israel’s Supreme Court has no influence on what happens in Gaza, which is ruled by the Palestinian militant group Hamas.
In East Jerusalem last year, the court halted the evictions of Palestinian families in Sheikh Jarrah, where Jewish groups had claimed ownership of the land the families had lived on for decades.
The courts decide a number of controversial and far-reaching issues, from Israeli settlement operations to LGBTQ freedoms and rights for Palestinian citizens, as well as ruling on issues in Israel’s occupation of the Palestinian territories.
Critics say that the reorganization will destroy the only way to make sure the Israeli legislative branch does not go off the rails.
Members of the typically apolitical high-tech sector have also spoken out against the reforms. The firm won’t be moving any of its $300 million capital due to the unrest in Israel.
Activist protests against a proposal to reform the judiciary: Netanyahu’s response to Gallant’s firing canceled in late March
He was suggesting that the ties between the US and Israel could weaken if Israel’s democracy weakens. That should give Netanyahu a lot to think about. It certainly does for most Israelis, who understand that Israel’s democracy is fundamental to the country’s identity, to its security and to its prosperity.
Protesters plan to intensify their demonstrations until the legislation is stopped. But the government says it received a mandate from voters to pass the reform when it was elected last November.
In mid-March, the coalition government softened its plans for the first time, announcing that it had amended the bill that would reform the committee that selects judges. Instead of having the vast majority of the appointed seats on the committee, the government-appointed members would have a one-seat majority.
Netanyahu has vowed to keep advancing the reforms. But his decision to fire Gallant on Sunday, a day after the defense minister called for a pause in the government’s drive to overhaul the country’s judicial system, sparked turmoil. Gallant was the first government minister to publicly support a delay in Netanyahu’s speech.
The Israeli labor federation Histadrut on Monday called a “historic” general strike to heighten pressure on Netanyahu to halt his judicial overhaul. Port, airport and retail workers were among those to walk out.
The Judiciary Reforms of Israel, After Yair Lapid and Yitzhak Netanyahu: CNN with Hadas Gold
The former Prime Minister of Israel, Yair Lapid, told the Knesset that Israel was being taken hostage by a bunch of extremists and urged the government to halt their judicial reforms.
The Supreme Court may have to consider laws that limit its power if the bills pass parliament. The possibility of a constitutional standoff has been raised by this. If the Supreme Court struck down the laws, what would the government do?
The judicial plan was paused for a month in late Monday after Netanyahu’s government acknowledged the criticism and said they would not abandon it.
He embraced the judicial reform movement to try to give him access to the Supreme Court in a way that people in Israeli society think is good for them and not bad for him.
CNN’s Hadas Gold has been reporting all day for CNN and has an in-depth look at who supports and why the judicial review effort has created so much controversy. Read her full story.
Protests have been going on for months now, but public anger grew more intense earlier this month after Netanyahu called the protesters anarchists and police used stun grenades and water cannons to break up gatherings and marches.
Indyk said that he’s lost control of the country. “There’s never been a general strike like this, which is shutting down the ports, the airport, the hospitals, schools.”
CNN View of the Israeli Courts: Netanyahu versus the U.S. in the Plight of Israel, and the Case of the Second Summit for Democracy
Netanyahu has few options to pull back from the judicial overhaul plan, Amir Tibon, a senior editor at the Haaretz newspaper, said on CNN International on Monday.
Tibon envisioned another flare-up in a month if the judicial overhaul plan returns, and worried that the Knesset could be on a collision course with the courts.
“Israel’s enemies are watching this and rubbing their hands in glee,” Indyk said. That affects the national security interests of the United States because we need Israel to calm the region.
The US gives billions of dollars to Israel. The US spends more than $500 million a year on missile defense in the country in addition to the funding it gives Israel. In fact, Israel is “the largest cumulative recipient of U.S. foreign assistance since World War II,” according to a recent Congressional Research Service report.
The Summit for Democracy, hosted by Biden, is intended to highlight the threats to democracy. It’s the second such event Biden has hosted since taking office.
The relationship between our two countries is in danger because of what Bibi is doing. “We stand for democracy.”
Tzipi Livni said on CNN that it was about the nature of Israel. “Will Israel remain a Jewish democratic state or (become) a nondemocratic … dictatorship or more religious country.”
Ghitis is a former CNN producer and correspondent. She is a weekly opinion contributor to CNN, a contributing columnist to The Washington Post and a columnist for World Politics Review. The views expressed in this commentary are of her own. Check out more opinions on CNN.
The Prime Minister’s Final Decree on the Laws of Fundamental Right-Right Fundamental Rights violates a Principle of Civil Liberty
The crisis was somewhat mitigated, but it’s unclear if Netanyahu can hold together the coalition after Monday’s vote. By freezing the legislation, Netanyahu risked some of his hardline coalition partners quitting, toppling the government and leaving the prime minister’s political future in question.
He said the law will allow the government to destroy freedom. Harari believes that citizens have a right to resist when the government breaks its commitment to respect the basic liberties of citizens.
The battle is not over. After all, democracy has been on the defensive across the globe for nearly two decades, and it has been losing ground.
Until now, pro-democracy protests, bringing out more than 600,000 people – over 6% of Israel’s population – have been overwhelmingly, remarkably peaceful.
The prime minister took the step because he wanted to keep the country together. But as Netanyahu himself recently acknowledged, a rift already has formed.
Protesters thronged the streets around parliament on Monday as the right-wing ruling coalition prepared to hold a final vote on the legislation. Then came word that Netanyahu would put the plan on hold.
“The prime minister doesn’t understand that he’s disconnected from what’s going on,” a protester named Yanai Or told NPR. He’s not doing enough to calm the person down. That’s very scary because it could lead to civil war or something similar.”
The push for more control is being seen as a way to get closer to the controversial legislative agenda. The government wants to pass laws prioritizing religion and nationalism, but the way things stand now, the courts likely would say such laws infringe on basic rights.
Does Trump need a Supreme Court to rule on Israel? The Handmaid’s Tale about a Woman in a Cosmic Wardrobe
Yes, and it’s possible that the Supreme Court could eventually rule on them. The prime minister is on trial for three criminal cases alleging corruption. All of them have been bundled together.
They claim that their way of life is in danger due to a government plan that could limit women’s rights. The author of the novel The Handmaid’s Tale made a picture of women in robes and bonnets similar to those seen in the book.
It’s not clear how a deal could be worked out over the judiciary. Israel was at the brink of a civil war when Netanyahu rejected the compromise to his judicial plan 10 days ago, according to the president.
The US weighing in on Israel’s domestic affairs with a rare statement, marked a rare moment of US supporting a close ally like Israel. But heavy opposition to the proposed reforms among US-based pro-Israel groups has given the White House more leeway to insert itself into the debate.
The White House has been “very clear” in both public and private about its concerns over Israel’s proposed judicial overhaul, a top US official said Monday.
“We remain deeply concerned by recent developments, which further underscore need in our view for compromise,” said John Kirby, a spokesman for the National Security Council.
Some progressive groups argue that the weight of the US presidency could help sway events if the Biden administration came out more forcefully against Netanyahu.
With the Knesset on the verge of stripping the judiciary’s check over the current government, we urge that the US make clear that it will firmly oppose any moves toward annexation that the Israeli government may pursue as a result. “We thank you for your work and again urge you to use all diplomatic tools at your disposal to address this grave situation.”
The hope, according to several people familiar with the matter, was that with Biden’s encouragement Netanyahu would forge a different path with the proposals, either by agreeing to compromises or withdrawing from the plan altogether.
The White House signaled its displeasure with Netanyahu after he returned to power by not inviting him to the Oval Office.
US officials familiar with the planning said that there are no plans to change Netanyahu’s participation in the event as of now. Netanyahu is scheduled to partake in the summit on Wednesday, though he is not listed on the public schedule of the event.
The summit is being held because of the growing fear of backsliding in Israel, according to White House officials.
Rob Berschinski, senior director for democracy and Human Rights of NSC, said last week that the invitation decisions were made based on political will. There are differing situations in which governments are taking controversial steps with respect to democracy in their countries.