By: John Waage – Christian Broadcasting Network (CBN); cbn.com
JERUSALEM, Israel – The week ahead will not be an easy one for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
As he recovers from a concerning bout of dizziness and a fall caused – doctors believe – by dehydration while at the Sea of Galilee, a medical event which required an overnight stay in the hospital, the prime minister will be steering the nation through another week of protests against his government’s judicial reform plan.
Additionally, although the position of prime minister is the most powerful office in Israel, Netanyahu will govern in Jerusalem this week while the nation’s ceremonial leader, President Isaac Herzog, meets with President Joe Biden, Vice President Kamala Harris, Secretary of State Antony Blinken, and later addresses a joint session of Congress.
It’s Herzog’s second visit in the past year to Washington, and in the nearly 8 months since the Netanyahu government was sworn in, no invitation is yet forthcoming from the Biden White House for the prime minister to meet with him.
Israeli prime ministers have endured decades of frosty receptions from presidential administrations: Menachem Begin with Jimmy Carter in the 1970’s, Yitzhak Shamir with George H.W. Bush in the early 90’s, Benjamin Netanyahu with Bill Clinton in the late 90’s, and Netanyahu again with Barack Obama from 2009 to 2016.
For the most part, Israeli politicians know from experience that snubs from American administrations are to be taken with a grain of salt and covered in public with kind words about the “special relationship” between the two nations.
cont’d…