Joe Biden and Binyamin Netanyahu have what is called a resilient relationship. However, the crisis in Israel triggered by the right-wing government's planned judicial reform represents a special test for the two. After all, it is not a foreign policy controversy or the treatment of the Palestinians, but the internal affairs of the State of Israel. The fact that Netanyahu ultimately bowed to pressure and postponed judicial reform is primarily due to pressure at home. But the American president also played a role.
Majid Sattar
Political correspondent for North America based in Washington.
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Biden could not ignore the attempt to curtail the powers of Israel's Supreme Court. American Jewry, which has struggled for years with the politics of the State of Israel, is a major part of the Democratic electorate. The formation of the right-wing government under Netanyahu intensified the alienation.
Biden has also made it his mission not only to overcome the divisions in his own country after the Trump era, but also to arm liberal democracies against populist and authoritarian threats. On Wednesday, another virtual "democracy summit" with 121 states is to be held, in which Netanyahu wanted to participate. Would it damage the credibility of the American president if the Israeli prime minister took the floor? So Biden had to take a stand, even if that meant interfering in Israeli domestic politics.
US said it was "very concerned"
On Monday, the American government was initially very buttoned-up. When John Kirby, the spokesman for the National Security Council, answered questions from the press in the morning, he did not want to confirm the news that Netanyahu had decided to postpone the controversial reform. We have to wait and see how things develop, he said. Karine Jean-Pierre, the White House spokeswoman, later praised Netanyahu's announcement. It gives more time to find a compromise.
On Sunday, the White House said it was "very concerned" about the events in Israel. The mass protests underscored the "urgent need" to find a compromise. The White House recalled that Biden told Netanyahu in a phone call in mid-March that Americans on both sides were concerned about parts of the reform. He urged him to find necessary compromises to lead his country through this challenge.
"Democratic values" have always characterized American-Israeli relations – this must remain so, the president had said. Democratic societies would be strengthened by "checks and balances", the system of controls and counterweights. Fundamental changes to the democratic system should be made on the broadest possible basis of popular support. That was a clear statement. Netanyahu, however, is unimpressed for the time being.