JERUSALEM — Israeli leaders engaged in a rare public clash with the United States on Wednesday after President Joe Biden criticized their contentious judicial overhaul plan.
Biden ignited a political firestorm with his suggestion that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu should “walk away” from his proposal to weaken the country’s Supreme Court and warned that Israel “cannot continue down this road.”
Netanyahu and his allies responded defiantly to the direct rebuke from Washington, asserting that Israel would make its own decisions. Opposition leaders seized on the open feud as a sign that the now-paused reforms threatened the country’s crucial friendship with the U.S. — and with it Israel’s security.
Speaking to reporters on Tuesday, Biden said he was “very concerned” about Israeli democracy after months of protests that have pitted Netanyahu’s right-wing government against hundreds of thousands of demonstrators on the streets, as well as business leaders and military reservists.
Netanyahu announced this week that he was pausing the legislation and opening negotiations with opposition parties. But he has also promised far-right members of his governing coalition that he will pass the judicial overhaul in some form by the summer.
“Like many strong supporters of Israel, I’m very concerned. And I’m concerned that they get this straight. They cannot continue down this road,” Biden said.
Speaking in unusually direct terms about a U.S. ally, Biden said he had no intention of inviting Netanyahu to the White House “in the near term” and appeared to question whether the Israeli leader sincerely wanted to compromise.
“I hope he walks away from it,” Biden said of the plan. “Hopefully, the prime minister will act in a way that he is going to try to work out some genuine compromise. But that remains to be seen,” he said.
Netanyahu responded with a series of tweets just before 1 am Jerusalem time. “Israel is a sovereign country which makes its…
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