Heritage Minister Amihai Eliyahu said on Wednesday that U.S. President Joe Biden was being fed information by members of the extreme left and in order to understand the situation in Israel, he should hear from Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
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Eliyahu spoke to Ynet and responded to the column by New York Times's award-winning journalist Tom Freidman who said on Tuesday that the administration was reassessing its relations with Israel, amid the policies of the Netanyahu government. "In order for Biden to see the real picture he should first hear Benjamin Netanyahu before reaching any conclusions," Elihau said.
Freidman's column raised the ire of other members of Netanyahu's coalition. Likud firebrand Tali Gottleib said she would not be intimidated by threats. "Israel is understood when it stands strong, " she said in a tweet. " I will not bow down to anyone. There is no threat that will sway me as a politician."
Adan Iluz a lawmaker for the Likud accused Freidman of anti-Netanyahu bias claiming he had been gunning for the prime minister for years. "even if there is currently some tension between Washington and Jerusalem, the bond between the two nations is strong and unbreakable," he said. "It is based on the wide support of the American public and the doomsday prophecies will not come to pass."
Freidman's report came on the heels of comments made by Biden and his outgoing Ambassador to Israel Tom Nides. Both voiced the opinion that Israel was "going off the rails," to use Nides words, in the government's rush to pass legislation that would alter Israel's balance of power between the Supreme Court and the government, a policy many inside Israel agreed would be an assault on its very democracy.
While Netanyahu came to power again after the elections last November, enjoying a clear coalition of 64 Knesset seats out of the 120-member parliament, his proposed judicial overhaul has not been easy to advance amid mass protests that have been persisting for the past 27 weeks, since the legislation was announced. He was also facing international pressure including from Bidens who still refuses to invite him to the White House.
Oded Revivi mayor of the West Bank settlement of Efrat said the Biden administration perceives the government's legislative move as a tool that may hinder the prosecution of Jewish rioters who attacked Palestinian villages, such as the case of Huwara when rioters burned dozens of homes and cars after two brothers from a nearby settlement were murdered in a terror attack. "The fire ignited in Huwara compromised American neutrality regarding the reform," Revivi said.
Netanyahu has yet to comment on the NY Times report.