Israel: judicial review frozen after strong message from Biden

US President Joe Biden is reported by Israeli media to have sent a strong message to Benjamin Netanyahu demanding that the Israeli Prime Minister should stop his judicial review immediately. The “personal and confidential” message was delivered by US Ambassador to Israel Tom Nides after Netanyahu dismissed his Defence Minister Yoav Gallant for not toeing the government line on the issue.

Biden apparently threatened that the head of the occupation government will be excluded from the US Summit for Democracy if he did not comply with his strongly-worded request. The move came at a time when Netanyahu wants to avoid a crisis with Biden and put the judiciary crisis behind him.

The US Axios news website also reported Biden’s message and the crisis in Israel due to the sharp divisions in Israeli society over Netanyahu’s proposed judicial review. Quoting two US sources described by Axios as “insiders”, it said that Netanyahu went on television within hours of receiving Biden’s message to announce the freeze of the judicial overhaul.

The sources added that this message from Biden to Netanyahu reveals the growing tension between the allies, and how closely Biden was involved in efforts to persuade the Israeli prime minister not to proceed with the changes.

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