White House press secretary Jen Psaki clarified on Friday that President Joe Biden is not ignoring Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu and would speak to him “soon”, though she added she does not have a timeline for when the conversation would take place.
Biden “is looking forward to speaking with Prime Minister Netanyahu. I can assure you that will be soon but I don’t have a specific time or date for when that will occur,” Psaki said in response to a question from a reporter at her daily press briefing.
Asked about a narrative in Israel that Biden not having called Netanyahu is “an intentional dis”, Psaki replied, “It is not an intentional dis. Prime Minister Netanyahu is someone the President has known for some time. Obviously, we have a long and important relationship with Israel, and the President has known him and has been working on a range of issues that there’s a mutual commitment to for some time.”
She noted again that Biden has only be in office for three and a half weeks and has not called every global leader yet. “I can assure you that he will speak with the Prime Minister soon and he’s looking forward to doing that.”
On Thursday, Psaki said that Biden would call Netanyahu "soon" and noted that “there's an important relationship that the United States has with Israel on the security front and as a key partner in the region.”
Biden's continued delay in contacting the leader of Israel has raised serious concerns in Israel. On Wednesday, former Israeli Ambassador to the United Nations Danny Danon tweeted Netanyahu's phone number and urged Biden to finally call the Israeli premier.
Following criticism over his tweet, Danon said in an interview with Galei Zahal (Army Radio) on Thursday, "I accept the criticism, and it may be that the choice of words was not successful - but I still believe in the message."
(Arutz Sheva’s North American desk is keeping you updated until the start of Shabbat in New York. The time posted automatically on all Arutz Sheva articles, however, is Israeli time.)