Isaac Herzog assures Congress Israeli democracy is ‘sound, strong, and resilient’

Israeli president Isaac Herzog met US president Joe Biden in the White House before addressing a joint session of the US Congress on Wednesday, assuring his hosts that Israeli democracy is “sound, strong, and resilient”.

There is concern in Washington over Benjamin Netanyahu’s governing coalition and its ongoing efforts to hobble Israel’s judiciary, after far-right and strictly-Orthodox ministers complained about meddling judges.

Despite Biden and Herzog’s warm words, there were telltale signs of tension, such as when US Secretary of State Blinken spoke of “a unique relationship, grounded in our commitment to Israel’s security, but also grounded in democratic values”.

Analysts at Middle East think-tank BICOM said: “The US emphasis that the strong relationship is based on ‘shared values’ could be interpreted as a warning for the Israeli government to maintain its status as a liberal democracy.”

They added that the timing of Herzog’s visit would let the US administration “distinguish their love and support for the people and State of Israel, whilst airing concerns over some aspects of the current Israeli government’s approach and specific hard right members of the government”.

Biden said the US had convened the largest gathering of Arabs and Israelis in a decade, resolved the maritime boundary dispute between Israel and Lebanon, opened airspace for Israeli planes over Saudi Arabia and Oman, and brought Israelis and Palestinians together on a political level at Sharm el-Sheikh.

Herzog said he brought “a message of gratitude on behalf of all the people of Israel” but could not avoid the elephant in the room – Netanyahu’s efforts to erode the power and independence of Israel’s judiciary, and the huge demonstrations that this has sparked across Israel for the past half a year.

Despite being in America, Herzog said his “heart and soul are in Israel, in the heated debate which we are going through as a society”.

He said this debate was “a virtue of – and a tribute to – the greatness of Israeli democracy”, and that despite “going through pains and challenging moments… we shall always seek to find amicable consensus”.

Herzog, who sought unsuccessfully to play the role of political mediator between the government and the opposition over judicial reform, said he was pursuing consensus “even in these very moments through my people as much as we can, in order to find solutions and exit out of this crisis properly”.

Netanyahu, whose government comprises ministers convicted of incitement against Palestinians, spoke to Biden over the phone a day before Herzog’s visit, which was planned last year to mark 75 years of Israeli independence and is not related to the current disagreements between Washington and Jerusalem.

It is the first time that the two leaders are believed to have spoken in four months, and although the Israeli press mooted a US trip for Netanyahu, there was no mention of this in the US briefings.

Later this week, Herzog will travel to New York where he will meet UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres and members of the city’s Jewish community.