Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Tuesday reaffirmed his intention to visit China soon, despite the current tensions with the US.
The visit, confirmed at a meeting with a bipartisan delegation of US congressmen, will be Netanyahu’s fourth visit to the Asian giant to meet Chinese President Xi Jinping and is scheduled for July, a date to be determined, according to Hebrew media. .
“Prime Minister Netanyahu stressed to members of Congress that security and intelligence cooperation between the United States and Israel is at an all-time high and that the United States will always be Israel’s most important and indispensable ally,” the statement said. from the prime minister’s office.
According to the statement, Joe Biden’s US administration was informed a month ago of the Israeli prime minister’s intention to visit Beijing at the invitation of the Chinese government.
However, Netanyahu, who is about to turn six months at the helm of Israel’s most right-wing and religious government, has yet to receive an official invitation to visit the White House, which is atypical for relations between the United States and Israel.
Since 1969, when Richard Nixon received Golda Meir in Washington, all Israeli prime ministers have visited or been formally invited to visit the White House during the first three months of their term, including Netanyahu himself in previous administrations.
Israeli analysts are interpreting Netanyahu’s trip to China as a signal to Biden that Israel can form other international alliances, stressing that the Israeli prime minister did not accidentally say this at a meeting with US congressmen.
The US administration is distancing itself from the current Israeli government and openly criticizing some of the most controversial policies, in particular judicial reform, which aims to undermine the independence of the judiciary and the separation of powers.
More recently, Washington has criticized the expansion of Jewish settlements in the occupied West Bank and the escalation of violence there.
Last March, Biden himself said he did not intend to invite Netanyahu to the White House “in the short term” despite the fact that the Israeli Prime Minister stalled the process of judicial reform under the pressure of social protests and a general strike.
Although not officially confirmed, the Israeli press has reported that Netanyahu has banned all of his ministers from traveling to Washington to meet with their counterparts until he himself is invited.
To date, no Israeli minister has paid an official visit to Washington, not even Defense Secretary Yoav Gallant, despite an important security alliance between the two countries.
Under the terms of this alliance, the United States provides Israel with $3,800 million (€3,470 million) in military aid each year and almost always guarantees Israel a veto in the UN Security Council on matters affecting it.
On Monday, the United States condemned Israel’s decision to approve the construction of 5,700 new homes in Jewish settlements in the occupied West Bank, which, with 7,300 approved earlier this year, brings the number of homes received to more than 13,000 “greens.” light” in 2023.
This is a record number, already exceeding the maximum of 12,159 approved settler homes for all of 2020 by the end of this year, under the previous Netanyahu government and with Donald Trump in the White House favoring the expansion of Jewish settlements.
In response to this measure, the US State Department announced a severing of all relations with Israeli academic and scientific institutions based in the occupied West Bank, which does not have a strong impact on the ground, but suggests a change in strategy based on in action, since so far the United States sent only moderately condemnatory messages in this regard.
The Israeli press also reports that the US embassy in Jerusalem did not include ultra-nationalist Israeli ministers Bezalel Smotrich and Itamar Ben Gvir, who advocate settler-versus-Palestinian violence, on their guest list for the July 4th US Independence Day party.
Author: Portuguese
Source: CM Jornal
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