PM’s brother backpedals after questioning Biden’s mental state
Iddo Netanyahu claims US president unfamiliar with Israeli legislation after White House criticizes Knesset’s partisan approval of ‘reasonableness’ law; later walks back comments
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s brother questioned on Tuesday the mental state of Joe Biden, who has expressed criticism regarding the judicial overhaul, saying that the US president is not familiar with the legislation’s details.
Speaking with the Kan public broadcaster, Iddo Netanyahu – a radiologist, author and playwright – said he believes senior American officials such as Secretary of State Antony Blinken know the details of the coalition’s plans to weaken the judiciary, but not Biden.
“I do not know what kind of mental state he’s in,” Netanyahu said, echoing Republican attacks on Biden’s cognitive acuity.
He also claimed the Biden administration was using the judicial shakeup as an “excuse” not to invite his brother to the White House. He noted Biden’s own travails with the US Supreme Court, accusing the president of seeking to weaken his own judiciary.
Netanyahu later sought to walk back the remarks, saying he “did not express himself well.”
“I don’t cast any doubt on President Biden’s [mental] situation or that he’s a great friend of Israel,” he said.
On Monday, the White House lamented the Knesset’s approval of the “reasonableness” bill, saying that the decision, which passed 64-0 in the plenum as the opposition boycotted the vote, should have been reached with as broad a consensus as possible.
Netanyahu had assured the Biden administration in recent months that he was working to secure broad support for the reforms his government is seeking to pass, but decided last month to move forward with the controversial legislation after negotiations with the opposition broke down.
In a statement Biden issued a day earlier, he said, “From the perspective of Israel’s friends in the United States, it looks like the current judicial reform proposal is becoming more divisive, not less.”
“Given the range of threats and challenges confronting Israel right now, it doesn’t make sense for Israeli leaders to rush this — the focus should be on pulling people together and finding consensus,” the US president said.
