JERUSALEM (VINnews) — Israeli news sources claimed Tuesday that Prime Minister Naftali Bennett had requested three weeks ago to hold a telephone call with US president Joe Biden but had yet to receive an answer. After Channel 13 aired the claim, the prime minister’s office denied that there are any tensions between Israel and the US, stating that no formal request had been made to talk with the US president.
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The report was released as US National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan held talks Tuesday with President Isaac Herzog, his first meeting on a three-day trip to the region.
The meeting with Herzog focused on Iran. Herzog “expressed his concern with Iran’s progress toward nuclear weapons under the cover of the negotiations in Vienna,” according to a statement by the president’s office.
Herzog told Sullivan that the Middle East is currently divided into two coalitions; “Israel and Arab states pursuing peace, resisting Iran, and working toward a better world for their citizens, and Iran’s coalition of terror with its proxies, which seeks to destabilize the region.”
“The president underscored the need to stop Iran obtaining nuclear weapons, at any price,” the statement added.
Herzog had promised to raise the issue of authorizing the yeshiva at Chomesh in the wake of the murder of Yehuda Dimentman last week but the matter was apparently not discussed with Sullivan.
Herzog made the promise during a condolence visit to the family of Yehuda Dimentman, who demanded the yeshiva be allowed to remain and protected by the IDF as if the yeshiva were evacuated it would be a “prize for terror.”
Herzog told them he understood their demand, but that there were also “regional and international issues at play.”
Sullivan will also meet with Prime Minister Bennett and participate in the fourth meeting of the US-Israel Strategic Consultative Group (SCG) alongside Israeli counterpart Eyal Hulata. The SCG is a group aimed at fostering collaboration between the US and Israel in the effort to prevent Iran from obtaining a nuclear weapon.
European diplomats warned this week that nuclear negotiations in Vienna to secure a return to the 2015 deal with Iran are “rapidly reaching the end of the road.”
Earlier this month, Defense Minister Benny Gantz visited Washington for discussions on Iran. He later told reporters he’d notified US officials that he had instructed the Israel Defense Forces to prepare for a strike against Iran.
Sullivan was accompanied in Israel by US envoy to the Middle East Brett McGurk and the State Department’s Acting Assistant Secretary for Near Eastern Affairs Yael Lempert.
After his meetings in Israel, Sullivan will travel to Ramallah to meet Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas. Lempert will travel to Jordan for regional discussions with senior government officials, including Water and Irrigation Minister Mohammed Al-Najjar and Planning and International Cooperation Minister Nasser Shraideh, the State Department said, apparently to discuss the recent deal between Jordan and Israel on energy and water.
It’s not that Biden hasn’t spoken to him it’s he’s forgotten he’s president and can’t remember his name
Biden is controlled by Amalek’s henchmen. If he could get around them for a minute, he would probably talk with Bennett (not that anything good would come from the conversation).
I recommend bringing g-d into the conversation. Let these foreign politicians know that we walk with HASHEM then they will succeed in reaching the best agreements for both sides.