Biden Calls Some in Netanyahu Cabinet Among the ‘Most Extreme’ Ever

President Biden said in an interview aired Sunday that the current government in Israel has among its members some of the “most extreme” elements he has ever seen and that the country’s “ultimate security rests in a two-state solution.”Speaking to CNN, Mr. Biden brushed aside questions about why he has not invited Prime Minister Netanyahu to the White House yet, even though the latter has been in office for more than six months now.Mr. Biden noted that President Isaac Herzog, Israel’s head of state, will be visiting Washington later this week to address a joint meeting of Congress in honor of Israel’s 75th year of independence. Mr. Herzog is expected to meet with Mr. Biden at the White House.Previously, Mr. Biden has said that a White House meeting with Mr. Netanyahu is not in the offing anytime soon, blaming Mr. Netanyahu’s proposed changes to the country’s judicial laws and his support for further settlements on the West Bank.While he declined to blame Israel entirely for the recent uptick in violence there, Mr. Biden said extremists in the current government “are a part of the problem — particularly those individuals in the cabinet who say… ‘We can settle anywhere we want,’ ‘[Palestinians] have no right to be here.’”“This is one of the most extreme cabinets that I have seen,” the president told CNN’s Fareed Zakaria. “And I go all the way back to Golda Meir and all.”There are, he added, extremists on both sides in the struggle. “I think that the fact that the Palestinian Authority has lost its credibility, not necessarily because of what Israel’s done, just because it’s just lost its credibility, number one, and, number two, created a vacuum for extremism in the — among the Palestinians.”The president said that members of his administration talk to their counterparts in Jerusalem regularly and that he is “trying to tamp down what’s going on.”“Hopefully, Bibi will continue to move toward moderation and change,” Mr. Biden said, referring to Mr. Netanyahu by his nickname.Asked about any breakthroughs in relations between the Jewish state and Saudi Arabia, Mr. Biden said the two countries are a long way from any normalization agreement. “We’re a long way from there. We got a lot to talk about,” Mr. Biden said.“We’re making progress in the region. And it depends upon the conduct and what is asked of us for them to recognize Israel,” he added. “Quite frankly, I don’t think they have much of a problem with Israel. And whether or not we would provide a means by which they could have civilian nuclear power and/or be a guarantor of their security, that’s — I think that’s a little way off.”

Biden Calls Some in Netanyahu Cabinet Among the ‘Most Extreme’ Ever

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