As the U.S. government expresses concern over judicial reform, White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said Wednesday that U.S. President Joe Biden and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu are "talking frankly with each other."
At the same time, Jean-Pierre was asked if Biden believed Netanyahu, and replied: "The president and prime minister have a longstanding acquaintance. They spoke last week and had an honest conversation."
Biden's statement after his meeting with tech giants, July 2023 // Credit: Reuters
She declined to go into "details" about the relationship between the leaders, saying: "They have discussed, among other things, their common interests, as well as their concerns, and this will continue."
As noted, tensions between the two countries escalated about a week ago, after Biden sent Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and President Isaac Herzog a clear message that regime reform legislation must be stopped. This came up in a conversation New York Times commentator Thomas Friedman had with President Biden.
Biden urged the country's leaders: "Please, stop now, don't pass something so important without broad consensus – or break something in Israeli democracy and your relationship with American democracy, and you may never be able to fix it."
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