An announcement from Netanyahu’s workplace stated the 2 mentioned Iran’s nuclear program and methods to broaden normalization agreements reached underneath the Trump administration with 4 Arab nations.
“I’ve known President Biden for 40 years as a great friend of Israel,” Netanyahu instructed Sullivan, in response to footage launched from the assembly. “We see you as a trusted partner in matters of assuring security and, of course, advancing peace.”
Israel’s new authorities has already proved a headache for the Biden administration, with extremist Cabinet minister Itamar Ben-Gvir visiting a flashpoint Jerusalem holy web site and having adopted punitive steps against the Palestinians that run in direct opposition to a number of current Biden strikes to spice up U.S.-Palestinian relations. Netanyahu instructed Sullivan the measures had been a obligatory response to the Palestinians pushing the U.N.’s highest judicial physique to present its opinion on the Israeli occupation.
Sullivan instructed Netanyahu that Biden’s “commitment to the state of Israel is bone deep,” a “commitment that’s rooted in shared history, shared interests and shared values.”
The U.S. has stated it should interact with Netanyahu’s government based mostly on its insurance policies and never on personalities, together with senior Cabinet ministers who’ve expressed vehement anti-Palestinian and anti-Arab views up to now.
U.S. officers have beforehand expressed issues about not less than two far-right Israeli politicians, Ben-Gvir and Bezalel Smotrich.
Ben-Gvir, a lawmaker identified for anti-Arab vitriol and provocative stunts, is the minister of nationwide safety, a robust place that places him answerable for Israel’s police pressure. Meanwhile, Smotrich, chief of the Religious Zionism occasion, which shares anti-Palestinian and anti-gay views, has been granted oversight over the Israeli protection physique answerable for Palestinian civil affairs.
The Israeli authorities can also be an unwelcome complication for a Biden nationwide safety staff searching for to shift consideration away from the Middle East and towards rivals like China and Russia. It additionally comes as Republicans take management of the House of Representatives and are wanting to solid Biden as unfriendly to Israel forward of the 2024 presidential election.
Sullivan additionally met with senior Israeli safety officers, together with the pinnacle of the Mossad. He met the nation’s ceremonial president, Isaac Herzog, on Wednesday.
