A Biden-Netanyahu reset? Israeli leader gets coveted White House invitation after tensions

WASHINGTON – President Biden has invited Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to the U.S. later this year, a move aimed at addressing the troubled friendship between two longtime allies.

The invitation by the White House was announced a day before the arrival of Isaac Herzog, Israel's president. Herzog holds a largely ceremonial role so the decision to invite him first had created some awkwardness. Biden had not extended a similar invitation to Netanyahu since the Israeli leader came back into power last year.

Tensions between Biden and Netanyahu have hit a critical point, driven in part by the months-long crisis in Israel over justice measures that will weaken the country's Supreme Court. Netanyahu's judicial overhaul agenda has fueled months of demonstrations. A massive protest erupted in Tel Aviv over the weekend after the Knesset cleared a key hurdle last week to write the reforms into law.

The White House said Monday that Biden urged Netanyahu to seek "the broadest possible consensus" on judicial reforms in a phone call in which both sides said the leaders agreed to meet.

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The prime minister's office said Netanyahu "updated" his counterpart "on the bill that is slated to be passed next week by the Knesset and on his intention to reach wide public support for the rest of the reform during the summer recess."

"They have agreed that they will meet, probably before the end of the this year," National Security Council coordinator for strategic communications John Kirby said, "and all the details of the wheres and the whens are still being worked out."

Kirby said that the call and the planned meeting does not mean the White House has "less concerns" over the judicial reforms or "some of the extremist" actions of members of Netanyahu's government. "Those concerns are still valid," he said. "They're disturbing,"

Earlier this month Biden said that Netanyahu's cabinet is one of the most extreme that he's ever seen and the U.S. is in regular talks with Israel's government, "trying to tamp down what is going on."

"Hopefully Bibi will continue to move toward moderation," Biden told CNN.

Israel is the recipient of the largest amount of U.S. overseas military aid, about $160 billion cumulatively since the country's creation in 1948, according to the Congressional Research Service.

This money has helped transform Israel's military into one of the most sophisticated fighting forces in the world. Washington has long viewed Israel as a counterweight against extremist groups and countries in the Middle East, from Iran to Syria, and the two countries cooperate closely on intelligence and technology research.

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Biden presses Netanyahu on reforms after calling his cabinet extreme