Benjamin Netanyahu's younger brother said Joe Biden was ill-informed. senile on Tuesday after the White House criticized the Israeli prime minister's judicial reforms.
Iddo Netanyahu, a physician and playwright, hinted that the US president was ill-informed about the specific details of the overhaul Mr. Netanyahu to get through parliament.
In an interview with the Israeli broadcaster Cannes, he said of Biden: “I don’t know what his mental state is.”
However, less than an hour later, Iddo Netanyahu said that made a slip of the tongue in an interview, and tried to distance himself from his remarks.
«I put it poorly… I'm not questioning the position of Joe Biden, who is a great friend of Israel,» he said in a subsequent statement, according to Kann.
Mr. Biden had previously called on Mr. Netanyahu not move forward with «divisive» reforms unless a compromise is found with opposition leaders.
On Monday evening, the White House issued a rebuke to the Netanyahu government after it passed a key element of polarizing reforms without finding consensus with other parties.
Iddo Netanyahu said he 'bad word' Credit: Yves Forestier/Getty Images Europe
U.S.-Israel relations remain extremely close due to the former's ironclad defense commitment, but tensions are reportedly rising between Biden and Netanyahu.
For many months after his victory in the November elections, Netanyahu did not receive an invitation to the White House, which was widely interpreted as an indirect expression of Washington's displeasure with the controversial reforms.
He came from the Israel Medical Association, which represents most of the country's doctors, announced on Tuesday a 24-hour strike, but stressed that it would not affect emergency medical care.
With 70% of the country's interns saying they would join the strike, Israel's health minister urgently requested an injunction to stop the strike.
This means that Mr. Netanyahu, Israel's longest-serving prime minister, is facing a triple crisis: judicial appeals against reforms, a doctors' strike, and possibly thousands of reservists who refuse military service.
He urged army reservists «loving Israel» did not refuse military service to protest his legal overhaul, as he warned that it would jeopardize national security.
In an address to the nation, the Israeli Prime Minister said: “The IDF [Israel Defense Forces] must remain outside of any political controversy. We all know that the IDF relies on dedicated reservists who love this country.
“Calls for refusal to serve are detrimental to the security of every citizen of the state. No government can capitulate to the dictatorship of refusal, and we will not succumb to such dictatorship.” He further pleaded with the demonstrators «not to include the duties of the IDF in the political debate.»
Israeli military reservists blocked the entrance to the base in Tel Aviv. Photo: Ohad Zwigenberg/AP. Politicians have approved a highly controversial bill that would weaken the power of the judiciary to deal with government decisions deemed reckless or unreasonable.
The bill was part of a broader legislative reform proposed by Mr. Netanyahu that sparked weekly mass protests across Israel, with tens of thousands of people marching through the streets with blue and white flags.
As the conflict escalated, the protest movement, Thousands of Israeli reservists have pledged to refuse military service in response to a bill passed on Monday.
The reservists said the move was their latest attempt to convince Mr. Netanyahu to abandon the reforms and was only taken after careful planning and discussions.
It was not clear how many reservists would keep their promise and whether they would support the boycott during any major security crises in the coming months, such as the war with Hezbollah in Lebanon or Hamas in Gaza.< /p>
Critics of the revision of the law say it is tantamount to a coup that will neutralize the Israeli judiciary. Mr. Netanyahu and his supporters say they are taking the necessary steps to limit the power of unelected judges over ministers.
Protests will continue until the fall, when the Israeli government begins to move on to the next phase of law reform.
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