Artificial intelligence developers ask for a six-month pause and initiate cooperation with politicians

JERUSALEM (AP) — Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Wednesday dismissed President Joe Biden’s suggestion that the prime minister would “abandon” a controversial legal reform plan, saying the country is making its own decisions.

The exchange of statements marked a rare public display of differences between the two close allies and signaled growing friction between Israel and the United States over Netanyahu’s judicial reforms, which he shelved after mass protests.

Asked by reporters Tuesday night what he hoped the prime minister would do about the legislation, Biden said: “I hope he drops it.” The president added that Netanyahu’s government “cannot go down this path” and called for a compromise on the plan, which has sparked protests in Israel. The president also responded cautiously to U.S. Ambassador Thomas Nides’ suggestion that Netanyahu would be invited to the White House anytime soon, saying, “No, not anytime soon.”

Netanyahu replied that Israel is sovereign and “makes decisions by the will of its people, not based on pressure from abroad, including from the best friends.”

Later on Wednesday, Netanyahu took a more conciliatory tone, saying that while “Israel and the United States have had their differences from time to time,” the alliance between them is “unbreakable.”

“Nothing can change that,” he said in his speech at the US State Department’s Democracy Summit.

The sharp exchange came a day after Netanyahu called for his government to halt the bills to “avoid civil war” after two days of mass protests that saw tens of thousands of people take to the streets of Israel.

“I hope that the prime minister will act to try to find some real compromise,” Biden told reporters as he left North Carolina and returned to Washington.

Israeli protest organizers called for a demonstration in support of Biden outside the US embassy in Tel Aviv on Thursday, while Netanyahu’s allies doubled down on their criticism.

Itamar Ben-Gvir, a close Netanyahu ally and police minister, told Israel Army Radio that Israel was “not another star on the American flag.”

“I expect that the president of the United States will understand this thesis,” he said.

Speaking to Kan public radio, Education Minister Yoav Kish said that “a friend cannot try to impose politics on another on domestic issues.”

Netanyahu had several public spats with then-US President Barack Obama over Israel’s policies toward the Palestinians and the Iranian nuclear issue. In 2015, he opposed plans for a nuclear agreement between world powers and Iran without coordination with the White House.

Nimrod Goren, a senior researcher at the Middle East Institute, noted that US-Israeli relations have previously had crisis points – for example, due to the defunct agreement on limiting Iran’s nuclear potential. On the contrary, he said, the White House now seems to be “questioning Netanyahu’s competence as prime minister, as well as whether he is reliable and responsible.”

Netanyahu and his religious and ultranationalist allies announced judicial reform in January, just days after forming their government, the most right-wing in Israel’s history.

The proposal triggered Israel’s worst domestic crisis in decades. Business leaders, leading economists and former security chiefs opposed the plan, saying it was pushing the country toward dictatorship.

It also drew criticism from supporters of Israel in the US, including American Jewish organizations, as well as Democratic members of Congress. A Pew poll released last May found a growing partisan divide over Israel and the Palestinians, with Democrats, especially young voters, increasingly expressing favorable views of the Palestinians.

The plan would give Netanyahu, who is on trial on corruption charges, and his allies the final say in appointing national judges. It would also give parliament, controlled by its allies, the power to overturn Supreme Court decisions and limit the court’s ability to review laws.

Critics say the law will concentrate power in the hands of the coalition in parliament and upset the balance of checks and balances between the branches of government.

Netanyahu said he was “aiming for a broad consensus” in talks with opposition leaders that began on Tuesday.

Yair Lapid, the leader of the opposition in Israel’s parliament, tweeted that Israel had been the US’s closest ally for decades, but “the most radical government in the country’s history destroyed that in three months.”