No White House Visit for Israel's Netanyahu as US Concern Rises

Israel's longest-serving prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu attends a special Knesset session that voted him out of power - AFP
Israel's longest-serving prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu attends a special Knesset session that voted him out of power - AFP
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No White House Visit for Israel's Netanyahu as US Concern Rises

Israel's longest-serving prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu attends a special Knesset session that voted him out of power - AFP
Israel's longest-serving prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu attends a special Knesset session that voted him out of power - AFP

Eleven weeks into his third stint as Israel's prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu has yet to be received at the White House, signaling apparent US unhappiness over the policies of his right-wing government.

Most new Israeli leaders had visited the United States or met the president by this point in their premierships, according to a Reuters review of official visits going back to the late 1970s. Only two out of 13 previous prime ministers heading a new government waited longer.

The White House declined to confirm Netanyahu has yet to be invited. A State Department spokesperson referred Reuters to the Israeli government for information about the prime minister's travel plans, Reuters said.

Israel’s embassy in Washington declined to comment.

"The message they clearly want to send is: If you pursue objectionable policies, there's no entitlement to the Oval Office sit-down,” said David Makovsky, a former senior adviser to the Special Envoy for Israeli-Palestinian Negotiations, now at the Washington Institute for Near East Policy.

Since the start of the year, demonstrators have filled Israel's streets to protest the government's plan to curb the power of the Supreme Court, which critics say removes a check on the governing coalition.

Amid escalating West Bank violence, the right-wing government's action authorizing settler outposts and inflammatory comments from a member of Netanyahu's cabinet with responsibilities over Jewish settlements have drawn criticism from US officials, including from Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin during a visit to Israel last week.

US-Israeli ties remain close. The United States has long been Israel’s main benefactor, sending more than $3 billion each year in military assistance.

President Joe Biden has known Netanyahu for decades, the two have spoken by phone, and senior officials in both countries have made visits since Netanyahu's government was formed in December, despite Israel's spiraling political crisis.

But the lack of a White House visit underscores both the desire of the Biden administration to see different policies in Israel and what critics say is a reluctance to take more forceful steps.

'FRUSTRATING' LANGUAGE
US statements on events in Israel have often comprised “frustrating boiler-plate language,” said Sarah Yerkes, a senior fellow at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace who formerly worked at the State Department on policy towards Israel and the Palestinians.

“It has been frustrating to see this lack of teeth to any of the US responses,” Yerkes said.

“They don't get to be treated with the same kid gloves that they've always been treated with because ... they’re on the path to not being a democracy anymore.”

The Biden administration prefers quiet conversations over public criticism, a senior State Department official said, especially when it comes to the crisis over a proposed Israeli judicial overhaul.

“Anything that we would say on the specific proposals has the potential to be deeply counterproductive,” the official said, adding the goal was to encourage Israel’s leaders to build consensus over the reforms, rather than to be prescriptive on what the outcome should be.

Chris Murphy, a Democratic member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, said he hopes the administration will persist with a clear message to Israel.

"I would certainly like to see the administration to be sending a strong signal that we have to maintain our support for a future Palestinian state and the decisions that the Netanyahu government are making now greatly compromise that future," Murphy said.

A separate group of 92 progressive lawmakers warned in a letter to Biden that the judicial overhaul could empower those in Israel who favor annexing the West Bank, "undermining the prospects for a two-state solution and threatening Israel’s existence as a Jewish and democratic state.”

US leaders have rarely criticized Israeli policies since Secretary of State James Baker in 1989 advised the country against moves toward annexing Palestinian territory and expanding settlements. Baker later banned Netanyahu, at the time a deputy minister of foreign affairs, from the State Department after he criticized US policy toward Israel.

Biden, a Democrat who describes himself as a Zionist, says US support for Israel is “ironclad.”

“Biden’s own personal instincts are such that it’s very difficult for him to want to adopt an extremely tough posture towards Israel,” Dennis Ross, a veteran US Middle East peace negotiator now with the Washington Institute for Near East Policy.

“He would prefer to have the Middle East in a box so he can focus only on Russia, Ukraine and China. Unfortunately, the Middle East has a way of imposing itself, unless we initiate enough to try to manage the environment.”

Reporting by Simon Lewis; Additional reporting by Arshad Mohammed, Steve Holland and Patricia Zengerle; Editing by Don Durfee and Howard Goller



Iran Says US Sanctions ‘Will Not Change’ Policy after Trump Warnings

An Iranian man rides a bicycle next to an anti-US mural near the former US embassy in Tehran, Iran, 01 May 2025. (EPA)
An Iranian man rides a bicycle next to an anti-US mural near the former US embassy in Tehran, Iran, 01 May 2025. (EPA)
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Iran Says US Sanctions ‘Will Not Change’ Policy after Trump Warnings

An Iranian man rides a bicycle next to an anti-US mural near the former US embassy in Tehran, Iran, 01 May 2025. (EPA)
An Iranian man rides a bicycle next to an anti-US mural near the former US embassy in Tehran, Iran, 01 May 2025. (EPA)

Iran said Friday that continued US sanctions on its trade partners will not alter its policy, after President Donald Trump threatened to penalize countries or individuals dealing in Iranian oil.

"The continuation of these illegal behaviors will not change Iran's logical, legitimate and international law-based positions," a foreign ministry statement said, condemning what it called "pressure on Iran's trade and economic partners".

It added that such sanctions have created "deep suspicion and mistrust about the seriousness of America on the path of diplomacy".

On Thursday, Trump vowed to enforce sanctions and called for a global boycott of "any amount" of Iranian oil or petrochemicals.

"All purchases of Iranian Oil, or Petrochemical products, must stop, NOW!" Trump wrote on his Truth Social platform.

"Any Country or person who buys ANY AMOUNT of OIL or PETROCHEMICALS from Iran will be subject to, immediately, Secondary Sanctions," he added.

His remarks came after Iran confirmed that the next round of nuclear talks with the United States, which had been expected to be held on Saturday, has been postponed, with mediator Oman citing "logistical reasons".

Oman said the date for a new round "will be announced when mutually agreed".

Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi, who headed the Iranian delegation in the three rounds of talks held so far, said Iran was ready for a "just and balanced deal".

"There is no change in our determination to secure a negotiated solution," Araghchi said on X, adding that any deal should guarantee "an end to sanctions."

The talks mark the highest-level contact on Iran's nuclear program since Trump abandoned a landmark accord between Tehran and major powers in 2018.

The US president had written to Iran's supreme leader Ali Khamenei in March urging negotiations but warning of potential military action if they failed.

Since returning to office in January, Trump has revived the "maximum pressure" policy of sanctions against Iran, with the latest announced on Wednesday and targeting seven companies accused of transporting Iranian-origin petroleum products.

Tensions over Iran's nuclear program soared after Washington withdrew from the 2015 deal with major powers which offered Tehran sanctions relief in return for restrictions on its nuclear activities.

Iran adhered to the agreement for a year afterwards before beginning to roll back its compliance.

Western governments have since accused Tehran of seeking a nuclear weapons capability, an ambition it has consistently denied, insisting that its nuclear program is for peaceful purposes only.