Seven months later, Biden invites Netanyahu to meet him in US

US President Joe Biden invites Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to a meeting in the US, after seven months of refraining from making such an offer, due to Washington’s displeasure with the judicial overhaul and policies in the West Bank being advanced by Jerusalem.

The invitation was extended during a “warm and long” phone call, which was the first time in four months that the two leaders had spoken, the Prime Minister’s Office says.

Netanyahu accepted the invitation and the leaders agreed that their staffs would work to coordinate a date.

The statement said only that Netanyahu was invited to meet Biden in the US, without specifying if the invitation was to the White House or another location.

The two leaders also discussed advancing measures to restore calm in the West Bank via the regional meetings that Israel and the Palestinian Authority have held this year in Aqaba, Jordan, and Sharm el Sheikh, Egypt, Netanyahu’s office says.

A third meeting was supposed to take place in the spring, but never materialized due to further deteriorations in Jerusalem’s ties with Ramallah.

There was no immediate readout from the White House on the conversation that took place amid reports that Biden had planned to express his opposition to the judicial overhaul that Netanyahu’s hardline government is aiming to push through.

The statement from Netanyahu’s office did not refer specifically to the overhaul, but said Netanyahu updated Biden on “a law that will be passed next week.”

The law would curtail judicial oversight over the reasonableness of governmental decisions.

The opposition fiercely opposes the bill, but Netanyahu told Biden he aims to use the summer parliamentary recess to find “broad public support for rest of the [overhaul] process.”

The two leaders also discussed efforts to expand Israel’s integration in the region and to combat the Iranian nuclear threat, Netanyahu’s office says.