Biden Doubles Down, Refusing Netanyahu Visit over ‘Extreme’ Cabinet Members

However, Biden met quickly with both prime ministers from the last coalition government, which included an Arab party regarded as extremist by many Israeli Jews because it denies the right of the State of Israel to exist.

Biden described himself on CNN as an “unyielding supporter of Israel” and added that some of the problems in the region were the fault of the Palestinian Authority leaders, whom he said created a “vacuum for extremism.”

However, he said that he opposed members of Netanyahu’s cabinet who, he said, believed that Jews can “settle anywhere where we want” in the historic territories of Judea and Samaria, captured from Jordan in a defensive war in 1967. Some portions of those territories are administered by the Palestinian Authority, and the area is still disputed between the two sides.

Biden said that he hoped Netanyahu “will continue to move toward moderation,” suggesting the White House has made close ties conditional on the kind of government Israelis elect, overriding respect for democracy.

Biden also said a peace deal between Saudi Arabia and Israel — which was said to be close at hand in the final months of the Trump administration — is “a little way off.” Biden has adopted a tough approach to the Saudis, which in turn has caused them to turn to China in recent months.

Joel B. Pollak is Senior Editor-at-Large at Breitbart News and the host of Breitbart News Sunday on Sirius XM Patriot on Sunday evenings from 7 p.m. to 10 p.m. ET (4 p.m. to 7 p.m. PT). He is the author of the recent e-book, Neither Free nor Fair: The 2020 U.S. Presidential Election. His recent book, RED NOVEMBER, tells the story of the 2020 Democratic presidential primary from a conservative perspective. He is a winner of the 2018 Robert Novak Journalism Alumni Fellowship. Follow him on Twitter at @joelpollak.