Israeli Leaders Blast Biden's 'Extreme' Allegation, Issue Him a Challenge
Members of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s ruling coalition slammed U.S. President Joe Biden’s recent remarks that the current government is “extreme.”
National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir, a key figure in Netanyahu’s right-wing and religious bloc in the Knesset, said in an interview with Channel 14 news on Sunday that Biden “needs to realize that we’re not another star on the American flag.”
“In what exactly am I extreme?” the Otzma Yehudit Party leader said. “In handing out weapons to the citizens of Israel so that they can defend themselves? In that I give full backing to our soldiers and policemen?
“I invite Biden to tour Jerusalem and Hebron to see that our extremism is extremism with immense love for the state of Israel.”
Fellow party member Almog Cohen, a Knesset member, said Biden’s remarks reflect that he is uninformed about Israel.
“An extreme government? Extreme in what? I think it is not extreme, it is very open, it is very talkative. The right has never known how to govern. I would like more,” Cohen said.
“Do you think President Biden knew there was an attack yesterday?” he added, possibly referring to a Palestinian woman’s stabbing of a security guard in Jerusalem.
Israel Katz, the national infrastructure, energy and water minister from Netanyahu’s Likud Party, commented that the U.S. president “knows the rules of democracy.”
“There are gaps in the government between the approach of the prime minister and the absolute majority and the minority,” he said.
“Decisions were made regarding the continuation of the existence of the Palestinian Authority, the prime minister led the adoption of these decisions. Biden knows the rules of democracy.”
Opposition leader Yair Lapid of Yesh Atid also weighed in on Biden’s comments.
Speaking at a conference on Sunday evening in Rishon LeZion, the former prime minister said Biden was right to conclude the current government is the most extreme in Israel’s history.
Lapid also responded to Biden’s appearing to indirectly pour cold water on the possibility of an Israel-Saudi normalization deal.
“They (the current government) prefer [Justice Minister Yair] Levin and [Constitution, Law and Justice Committee chair Simcha] Rothman’s crazy revolution over historic normalization with Saudi Arabia,” he said.
“Instead of dealing with security and the economy and foreign relations, they are only busy trying to corrupt the country and dismantle our democracy.”
Produced in association with Jewish News Syndicate.
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