US President Joe Biden spoke Monday evening with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu for the first time in four months. During the conversation, Biden invited Netanyahu to meet with him in the United States, according to a readout of the meeting from the Prime Minister's Office.
US PRESIDENT INVITES PM NETANYAHU TO THE UNITED STATES IN CALL
(ILTV)
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The conversation took place shortly before the start of voting in the Knesset Constitution, Law and Justice Committee on legislation to cancel the reasonableness standard, with the final vote in the Knesset plenum expected in a week.
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US President Joe Biden and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu spoke for the first time in four months
(Photos: EPA, AP)
Netanyahu's office said that the two leaders had a "warm and long conversation," and that the "focus of the conversation was the strengthening of the strong alliance between the countries; curbing the threats from Iran and its metastases and expanding the circle of regional peace; and the continuation of efforts for calm and stability in Judea and Samaria (the Aqaba - Sharm el-Sheikh process with the Palestinian Authority).
Netanyahu also discussed the legislation to cancel the reasonableness standard that is set to pass in the Knesset plenum next week and told him that he intends to try to "forge a broad public consensus" over the rest of the judicial overhaul during the Knesset's summer recess.
The readout said that Netanyahu accepted the invitation to meet with Biden in the US and that the Israeli and US teams would coordinate the details of the meeting.
Last week, in an interview with CNN, Biden avoided the question of whether he would soon invite Netanyahu to visit the White House and pointed out that Herzog was scheduled to come.
"Netanyahu is still trying to solve the problems in the coalition," the US president said in the same interview.