U.S. President Joe Biden will meet Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on the “sidelines” of the upcoming United Nations General Assembly opening on September 1 — a downgrade from a traditional White House visit.
Biden refused to meet with Netanyahu for months, and has yet to meet with the Israeli prime minister, who was elected last year. In contrast, Biden met with both of Netanyahu’s predecessors within months of their taking office.
The officials reasons given have varied — from opposition to Netanyahu’s proposed judicial reforms, to opposition to the right-wing parties in Netanyahu’s cabinet. Regardless, Biden’s message has been one of open disapproval.
The issue came to a head in July, when Biden extended a White House invitation to Israel’s left-wing ceremonial president, Isaac Herzog. The contrast — inviting Herzog while snubbing Netanyahu — caused enough political discomfort for the Biden administration that the White House announced that it had agreed to meet Netanyahu in the fall. But Netanyahu also claimed he had been offered a White House visit, which the administration denied.
Now, it seems, the meeting will be in New York, while the White House snub continues.
The Times of Israel noted:
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu will meet with US President Joe Biden on September 21 when both leaders are in New York for the annual UN General Assembly, according to a diplomatic source.
…
It remains unclear whether there will be an additional meeting at the White House in Washington, as Netanyahu has been seeking.
The Times notes that Netanyahu will be addressing the General Assembly that same day. Many of Netanyahu’s past addresses have been significant statements about Israel’s foreign policy, particularly on the issue of a nuclear Iran.
Since Biden took office, the pace of progress in the Abraham Accords — the peace agreements between Israel and Arab and Muslim states — has slowed to a halt.
Both the U.S. and Israel have touted the possibility of deal with Saudi Arabia, though the Saudis — snubbed by the Biden administration since it took office — have been cool to the possibility, at least without concessions on a Saudi nuclear program, and Israeli concessions to the Palestinians.
Joel B. Pollak is Senior Editor-at-Large at Breitbart News and the host of Breitbart News Sunday on Sirius XM Patriot on Sunday evenings from 7 p.m. to 10 p.m. ET (4 p.m. to 7 p.m. PT). He is the author of the new biography, Rhoda: ‘Comrade Kadalie, You Are Out of Order’. He is also the author of the recent e-book, Neither Free nor Fair: The 2020 U.S. Presidential Election. He is a winner of the 2018 Robert Novak Journalism Alumni Fellowship. Follow him on Twitter at @joelpollak.