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White House confirms NYT report on Biden warning to Netanyahu that ‘special relationship’ under threat over judicial reform

“Please stop now, or you are going to break something with Israel’s democracy and with your relationship with America’s democracy, and you may never be able to get it back.”

By World Israel News Staff

The White House on Wednesday confirmed as true a report by New York Times columnist Thomas Friedman that cited President Joe Biden as warning that the “special relationship” between the U.S. and Israel was under threat and may suffer irreversible damage should Israel’s government keep going with its plans for judicial reform.

“Biden is now deeply worried for the stability and future of Israel, America’s most important Middle East ally and a country for which he wears his affection on his sleeve,” Friedman wrote in a column published Wednesday morning.

“His message to the Israeli prime minister and president could not have been clearer: Please stop now. Don’t pass anything this important without a broad consensus, or you are going to break something with Israel’s democracy and with your relationship with America’s democracy, and you may never be able to get it back.”

White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre and National Security Council spokesperson John Kirby confirmed the quotes in a press briefing later in the afternoon.

“Tom has a quote that directly quoted the President. I will let the President’s quote stand on its own,” Jean-Pierre said.

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“The President has had productive meetings with the President of Israel, President Herzog. And also, he had a phone call with Prime Minister Netanyahu,” she said, adding that Biden’s relationship with Israel was “strong and deep.”