Biden to meet Benjamin Netanyahu at UN but NOT White House next week after Israeli president proposes Oval Office meeting: report
- Netanyahu expected to fly to California, then head to New York for UN meetings
- He pushed for a White House meeting with Biden
- Axios reports planned ‘sidelines’ meeting comes after internal debate
President Joe Biden will meet with Benjamin Netanyahu at the United Nations next week, after rebuffing efforts by the Israeli prime minister to hold a meeting in the Oval Office, according to a new report.
The less formal tête-à-tête comes amid pressure from thousands of Israeli academics and artists for Biden and the U.N. secretary-general to shun Netanyahu amid his controversial judicial overhaul.
But Biden also faces conflicting currents at home, where Republicans, including former President Donald Trump, having accused him to let the distance widen between the historic allies in a context of persistent tensions and Netanyahu’s coalition with the right-wing parties.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu pushed for an Oval Office meeting with Biden during his trip to the United States. Instead, he gets a meeting “on the sidelines” of the United Nations General Assembly in New York, Axios reported.
The decision to meet with Netanyahu on the sidelines of the UN – where the president traditionally meets with several leaders – followed an internal debate and a pressure campaign led by the Israelis. Axios reported.
But the White House told Netanyahu he would hold a meeting at the White House later this year, the report said. Israel Times reported.
Biden said Netanyahu, who returned to power nine months ago, was leading an “extreme” Israeli government.
Officials said Netanyahu lobbied Israel’s ambassador to Washington, Micahel Herzog, for the meeting and requested a conference inside the Oval Office, where the men had previously met, according to the report .
The meeting is not officially confirmed for next week’s UNGA meetings.
With no White House meeting on his agenda, Netanyahu is expected to fly to Silicon Valley in California before his trip to New York.
Israel’s Supreme Court this week heard its first challenge to Netanyahu’s judicial reform, which critics say would weaken the high court and reduce checks on Netanyahu’s executive power.
The White House’s decision comes against a backdrop of deep political divisions in Israel. Here, Israelis protest against plans by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s government to reform the justice system and in support of the Supreme Court in Jerusalem, Monday, September 11, 2023.
The UN meetings come days after the Israeli Supreme Court met in a session with all of Israel’s Supreme Court justices for the first time in the country’s history to consider the legality of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s controversial judicial overhaul.
The decision by his right-wing government, which includes ultranationalist factions, has led to street protests and violent clashes.
Biden’s face-off with Netanyahu comes as Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi said his country would use $6 billion in released funds “wherever we need it” – rejecting a limitation on negotiations with the United States which limits money to “humanitarian purposes.”
Raisi’s comments, during an interview with BNC The news in Tehran comes a day after the Biden administration announced an extraordinary deal that would free five detained Americans, exchanging them for Iranian prisoners in the United States while unlocking funding for Tehran.
In the interview, Raisi told the network’s Lester Holt that the needs of the Iranian people would be determined “by the Iranian government,” after he was asked specifically if it would be for humanitarian purposes, including food and medicines, in a country hit by crippling inflation. amid economic sanctions.
The administration said the funds would be monitored to ensure they were intended only for humanitarian purposes.
