Array
Israeli Prime Minister, Benjamin Netanyahu rejected pressure from U.S. President Joe Biden on Wednesday to halt the judicial reform that has sparked massive protests across the country.
Israel is a sovereign country that makes its decisions according to the will of its people and not based on pressure from abroad, “including from the best of friends,” Netanyahu said in a post on Twitter.
The comments were in response to earlier comments by U.S. President Joe Biden to reporters on Tuesday at the Raleigh-Durham airport.
“Like many strong supporters of Israel, I’m very concerned. And I’m concerned that they get this straight,” said Biden, adding that Israel “cannot continue down this road.”
Biden was addressing the growing tension in U.S.-Israel relations regarding the judicial reform planned by Netanyahu’s government. The plans for reform have led to unprecedented protests for weeks.
Biden said he hopes Netanyahu “will act in a way that he can try to work out some genuine compromise, but that remains to be seen.”
When asked if he would be inviting the Israeli prime minister to the White House, Biden replied: “No, not in the near term.”
“The alliance between Israel and the United States is unbreakable and always overcomes the occasional disagreements between us,” said Netanyahu on Twitter on Tuesday night and added that his administration “is committed to strengthening democracy by restoring the proper balance between the three branches of government, which we are striving to achieve via a broad consensus.
