US president voiced gentle criticism at Netanyahu’s efforts to reduce power of Israel’s supreme court and of Israeli settlement expansion in the West Bank
Mr Biden’s other comments before the meeting showed that the relationship still remains thorny. The president voiced gentle criticism at Mr Netanyahu’s efforts to reduce the power of Israel’s supreme court, a contentious move that has set off one of the worst domestic crises in Israeli history.
“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. The rest of the meeting was held in private. Mr Biden was expected to voice concerns about Israeli settlement expansion in the West Bank as well as Mr Netanyahu’s judicial overhaul, which has set off nine months of mass protests, dented his polling numbers at home and attracted unusual criticism abroad, in particular from Mr Biden himself.
Though the two leaders have worked together for decades and describe each other as friends, Mr Biden has described Mr Netanyahu’s governing coalition as “one of the most extremist” in Israeli history.
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