Biden calls Netanyahu ‘friend,’ vows to press ‘two state solution’

US President Joe Biden said Thursday he would work with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, calling the returning right-wing leader his “friend” but vowing to oppose policies that endanger a two-state solution with the Palestinians.

“I look forward to working with Prime Minister Netanyahu, who has been my friend for decades, to jointly address the many challenges and opportunities facing Israel and the Middle East region, including threats from Iran,” Biden said in a statement.

“As we have throughout my administration, the United States will continue to support the two state solution and to oppose policies that endanger its viability or contradict our mutual interests and values.”

Netanyahu sworn in

Netanyahu — who had a tense relationship with the last US president of Biden’s Democratic Party, Barack Obama — was sworn in Thursday, leading the most right-wing government in Israel’s history.

The government, Netanyahu’s sixth, includes extreme-right figures such as Itamar Ben-Gvir, who once hung a portrait in his home of a gunman who massacred Palestinian worshippers and now will serve as national security minister.

Coalition

As Netanyahu formed a coalition, Secretary of State Antony Blinken said the Biden administration would judge the cabinet by “the policies they pursue, not the personalities that happen to form a government.”

US officials say they hope to encourage moderation on Netanyahu’s part by quickly convening a meeting between foreign ministers of Israel and Arab countries that recognize the Jewish state.

Three Arab nations — the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain and Morocco — normalized ties with Israel in 2020 under Netanyahu, who considered the so-called Abraham Accords a crowning achievement, as did then-president Donald Trump.

Prosperous region

Biden said the United States “is working to promote a region that’s increasingly integrated, prosperous and secure, with benefits for all of its people.”

In a subtle jab at past suggestions by Netanyahu that the Abraham Accords showed it was time to move on from diplomacy centered on the Palestinian issue, Biden called for work on a “more hopeful vision of a region at peace, including between Israelis and Palestinians.”

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