Israel’s Netanyahu has made himself persona non grata in Washington
The conciliatory phone call between Blinken and Cohen could not hide the growing rift and even crisis developing between Jerusalem and the Biden administration.
TEL AVIV — US Secretary of State Antony Blinken spoke on the phone with Israel’s Foreign Minister Eli Cohen on Thursday, in an attempt to lower tensions after a Tuesday statement by President Joe Biden that he will not invite Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu anytime soon to the White House.
State Department spokesperson Vedant Patel told reporters that in his conversation with Cohen, Blinken had “reaffirmed the importance of the enduring US-Israel bilateral relationship.”
