Joe Biden's Israel Remarks Raise Questions

• President Joe Biden recently raised questions after making comments about the proposed Israeli judicial reforms and using the phrase "the American Jewish position."
• Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu rejected Biden's criticism of the reforms but announced the proposed judicial overhaul would be paused.
• Biden was asked about his involvement in Israeli politics and said he does not want to interfere.

President Joe Biden's comments about the Israeli government's push to overhaul the country's judicial system have raised questions after he used the phrase "the American Jewish position."

Biden was speaking to reporters in Durham, North Carolina on Tuesday when he was asked about the proposed judicial reforms and afterwards some social media users questioned the use of the phrase.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has rejected Biden's criticism of the reforms, which would see the government take full control over the committee that appoints judges as well as curtailing the powers of the country's supreme court to strike down laws its finds unconstitutional.

Netanyahu announced on Monday night that the judicial overhaul would be paused until the next session of the Knesset following protests that involved tens of thousands of people across Israel on Sunday and Monday.

"Like many strong supporters of Israel, I'm very concerned. And I'm concerned that they get this straight. They cannot continue down this road," Biden said on Tuesday, according to a transcript made available online by the U.S. Embassy in Israel.

"And I've sort of made that clear…Hopefully, the prime minister will act in a way that he is going to try to work out some genuine compromise. But that remains to be seen," he said.

Biden was also asked about critics who say he should not be involved in or interfere with Israeli politics.

"We don't want to interfere. It's a little bit like if all the things—things are exploding in America," Biden said. "What do you think would happen if, all of a sudden—well, I know—I'm not going to even speculate."

"Anyway, we're not interfering. They know my position. They know America's position. They know the American Jewish position," the president added.

The latter remark raised eyebrows among some Twitter users, who questioned the use of the phrase "American Jewish position."

"Um, what's the 'American Jewish position?'" tweeted Emma-Jo Morris, politics editor at Breitbart News, sharing video of Biden's remarks from Israel/Palestine reporter Noga Tarnopolsky.

In a separate tweet featuring the video, Tarnopolsky wrote: "What I take from this statement is that Biden feels pretty confident about support for his position. Netanyahu knows his support is cratering."

"Revealing about Biden's thinking on Israel," tweeted Shibley Telhami, a professor at the University of Maryland.

Yair Rosenberg, staff writer with The Atlantic, addressed the phrase "the American Jewish position" in response to critical tweets.

"He's referring to how the major American Jewish organizations (from JFNA to ADL to AJC) came out in support of halting the legislation," Rosenberg said.

In another tweet, he added: "When the organizations that collectively represent American Jews say something, you can understand why someone would cite this as the 'American Jewish position.' Obviously, Jews are not a monolith anymore than any other community, but this is clearly the majority position."

Michael Doran, an analyst of the international politics of the Middle East and former George W. Bush administration official, tweeted: "This is blatant intervention in Israel's domestic politics, designed to weaken Netanyahu and, thereby, protect Biden's Iran appeasement."

Netanyahu appeared to respond to Biden's remarks on his own Twitter account, saying: "I have known President Biden for over 40 years, and I appreciate his longstanding commitment to Israel. The alliance between Israel and the United States is unbreakable and always overcomes the occasional disagreements between us."

"My administration is committed to strengthening democracy by restoring the proper balance between the three branches of government, which we are striving to achieve via a broad consensus," he said.

"Israel is a sovereign country which makes its decisions by the will of its people and not based on pressures from abroad, including from the best of friends," Netanyahu wrote.

Newsweek has reached out to the White House for comment via email.