Biden, Netanyahu Yet to Speak Since Inauguration
Uri Cohen
01/28/2021
Israeli Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu is patiently awaiting his phone call from that special someone, and it appears he may have to wait longer than he first anticipated. More than a week has passed since US President Joe Biden took office, and the leader of the Free World has yet to ring Netanyahu, in what some in Israel are calling a troubling snub. The two leaders, said to have built a sound relationship during their decades in public service, held a brief conversation over two months ago, two weeks after Biden was elected president, but the line has since remained silent. President Biden, meanwhile, has spoken with the premiers of Canada, Germany, Britain, France, Russia, Japan and Mexico, as well as with the head of NATO, since Inauguration Day. By comparison, former President Donald Trump called Netanyahu, perhaps his closest friend on the world stage, three days after entering the White House. While the top dogs have yet to speak, Israeli and US senior diplomats on Wednesday did: Secretary of State Antony Blinken, immediately following his confirmation, held his first conversation with Foreign Minister Gabi Ashkenazi.