Israel woos senior Republicans as White House continues to snub Netanyahu
Government insiders are alarmed by what appear to be efforts to undermine the overtures to the White House.
TEL AVIV — US National Security Council spokesperson John Kirby said Monday that he believes President Joe Biden will invite Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to the White House at some point, but no such visit is currently being planned.
"Israeli leaders have a long tradition of visiting Washington. President Biden and Prime Minister Netanyahu have known each other for a long, long time. I expect the prime minister will visit at some point," noted Kirby, adding that nothing has been scheduled for the moment.
Netanyahu and his aides have gone to a lot of trouble in recent weeks to distance one factor in the tense relations with the Biden White House: Yair Netanyahu. Netanyahu's son is on an indefinite trip abroad — first to Puerto Rico and now to Miami — and his vitriolic Twitter account that spewed out accusations of US plotting against his father has been silenced.
The chastened prime minister, after public rebuke by President Joe Biden and his staff, has taken advantage of his son’s absence to give a series of English-language interviews to international media outlets in an effort to restore his image as a pragmatic statesman.
