Netanyahu meets with Biden’s visiting energy envoy amid tensions with US
Amos Hochstein reportedly discusses Hezbollah, Saudi Arabia with prime minister, as White House and hardline Israeli government remain at odds
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu met Tuesday with US President Joe Biden’s special envoy for energy, Amos Hochstein, amid lingering tensions between Jerusalem and Washington.
The two discussed “regional issues and topics connected to the close cooperation between the US and Israel,” the Prime Minister’s Office said in a brief statement.
According to Channel 12 news, they discussed recent tensions with the Hezbollah terror group in the north and attempts to reach a normalization deal between Israel and Saudi Arabia.
A White House National Security Council spokesperson didn’t confirm the meeting, telling The Times of Israel that Hochstein’s trip “is focused on strengthening cooperation on regional and bilateral matters.”
Hochstein last visited Israel in May to brief Netanyahu after meetings with the Saudi crown prince in Saudi Arabia.
As energy envoy, Hochstein has played a role in the Biden administration’s Middle East dealings, including by helping to broker a maritime drilling agreement between Israel and Lebanon.
The Biden administration has had a fraught relationship with Netanyahu’s hardline government since it took office late last year.
Biden said Sunday in an interview with CNN that Netanyahu’s government has some “of the most extreme members” he’s seen in Israel, and that cabinet ministers who back settling “anywhere they want” in the West Bank are “part of the problem” in the conflict.
Biden also provided an update on his administration’s effort to broker a normalization deal between Israel and Saudi Arabia, saying, “We’re a long way from there. We got a lot to talk about.”
Normalization with regional power Saudi Arabia has long been a goal for Netanyahu, but the Saudi leadership has not reciprocated. The US under former US president Donald Trump brokered the Abraham Accords, Israel’s normalization agreements with the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain and Morocco.
In the CNN interview, Biden was pressed on what it would take for him to extend an invitation to Netanyahu to visit the White House, but he dodged the question, noting that President Isaac Herzog will be coming to Washington next week.
Netanyahu, on the other hand, has yet to receive an invitation, even though he’s been back in office for over six months. Previous prime ministers — himself included — had made the trip by this stage in their terms. Biden told reporters in late March that Netanyahu would not be coming in the “near term” amid US frustration over the Israeli government’s effort to radically overhaul the country’s judiciary.
Despite the lack of invitation, Biden stressed that he has been an “unyielding supporter of Israel for… as long as I have been around.”
Diaspora Affairs and Social Equality Minister Amichai Chikli, a member of Netanyahu’s Likud party, on Tuesday, alleged without evidence that Biden’s comments had been coordinated with opposition leader Yair Lapid and former prime minister Ehud Barak, who has been a leading figure in the nationwide protests against the current government.
