US President Joe Biden is slated to meet with opposition chief Benjamin Netanyahu during his visit to Israel subsequent month, an official acquainted with the matter advised The Times of Israel on Saturday.
The assembly was not deliberate initially however has been added to Biden’s schedule following Prime Minister Naftali Bennett’s resolution to dissolve the Knesset, sending Israel again to elections.
The Biden administration desires to keep away from the notion that it’s meddling in Israel’s election, and there may be precedent for presidents to meet each the prime minister and opposition chief during an election marketing campaign, the official mentioned.
Bennett and Foreign Minister Yair Lapid final week introduced their resolution to dissolve the twenty fourth Knesset after only one yr in energy due to their incapability to preserve their slender, politically various coalition collectively any longer. If all goes as deliberate, Israel will head to its fifth nationwide election in beneath 4 years within the fall.
The Knesset is anticipated to go the ultimate laws for its dispersal on Monday, and Lapid will take over as prime minister on Tuesday or Wednesday, in accordance to Saturday reviews.
Lapid will greet Biden at Israel’s Ben Gurion Airport on July 13 and maintain a number of conferences with the president all through the journey, the US official mentioned. Bennett may even meet Biden, with whom he has constructed a rapport over the previous yr.
Lapid and Biden are solely believed to have met as soon as earlier than, in 2013, when Lapid was finance minister and the Biden was vice chairman.
Biden and Netanyahu have had a protracted relationship, albeit with some political disputes. Netanyahu feuded with former US president Barack Obama, beneath whom Biden served as vice chairman.
From July 13 to 16 Biden, will journey Israel, the West Bank and Saudi Arabia the place he’ll take part in a gathering of regional leaders.
A senior US official, discussing Biden’s visit, hinted on Wednesday that extra Arab nations have been wanting to make gestures to enhance relations with Israel.
“We are working, in the space that is not in the public domain, with a couple of other countries. And I think you’ll see some interesting things around the time of the president’s visit,” US Assistant Secretary of State for Near Eastern Affairs Barbara Leaf advised a congressional subcommittee.
A Wednesday report additionally mentioned that US officers requested that Israel limit the list of guests and the period of the reception ceremony at Ben Gurion Airport when Biden arrives, probably due to Biden’s age or climate circumstances.
