White House Hits Back at Netanyahu's Son Saying U.S. Behind Israel Protests

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Giulia Carbonaro is a Newsweek reporter based in London, U.K. Her focus is on the U.S. economy, housing market, property insurance market, local and national politics. She has previously extensively covered U.S. and European politics. Giulia joined Newsweek in 2022 from CGTN Europe and had previously worked at the European Central Bank. She is a graduate in Broadcast Journalism from Nottingham Trent University and holds a Bachelor's degree in Politics and International Relations from Università degli Studi di Cagliari, Italy. She speaks English, Italian, and a little French and Spanish. You can get in touch with Giulia by emailing: g.carbonaro@newsweek.com.

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The White House responded to accusations made by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's son about the role of the United States in the protests unfolding in the country.

Last week, Yair Netanyahu shared an article from the far-right website Breitbart claiming that the U.S. is funding the anti-government protests unfolding in Israel in order to overthrow his father and force his government to come to an agreement with Iran.

"These accusations are completely false," a U.S. State Department spokesperson told the Israeli newspaper Haaretz.

The spokesperson said that the Movement for Quality Government—an independent, non-partisan, non-profit, pro-democracy organization that has been part of the demonstrations in Israel—"received a modest grant from the State Department that was initiated during the previous administration," adding that "the last disbursal of funds came in September of 2022, well before the last Israeli election."

Israel protests
Protesters gather outside Israel's parliament in Jerusalem amid ongoing demonstrations and calls for a general strike against the hard-right government's controversial push to overhaul the justice system, on March 27, 2023. The State Department called... HAZEM BADER/AFP via Getty Images

The grant, according to the spokesperson, "supported an educational program for Jerusalem schools that supplemented their civic studies curriculum."

But fears and suspicions that the U.S. might be interfering with Israel's affairs appear to go beyond just the prime minister's son. A senior Israeli official quoted by Haaretz said that this is "not the first time the U.S. has interfered in Israel's domestic affairs. They tried to remove Netanyahu from office twice before. They have rudely interfered in the past. [Former U.S. President Bill] Clinton tried to get rid of Netanyahu. He admitted as much."

Pressure on Netanyahu's government has been growing in recent weeks as hundreds of thousands of demonstrators have taken to the streets to protest against a controversial judicial reform that the prime minister intends to push through.

The planned change to the country's justice system would allow Netanyahu's government—the most right-wing in the history of Israel—to take control over the committee which appoints judges and overrules courts' decisions.

One reform, removing the power of the attorney general to pronounce a sitting prime minister as unfit for office, has already been approved. Critics of the policy say Netanyahu wants to pass the legislation to avoid being prosecuted for corruption, fraud and breach of trust—all charges which he denies.

Protests are expected to escalate on Monday when right-wing activists said they would join the demonstrations. Netanyahu on Twitter encouraged protesters on "right and left to behave responsibly and not act violently."

The protest movement is largely leaderless and comes from different sectors of society, including—rather surprisingly—military reservists.

Newsweek reached out to the State Department via email for comment.

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About the writer

Giulia Carbonaro is a Newsweek reporter based in London, U.K. Her focus is on the U.S. economy, housing market, property insurance market, local and national politics. She has previously extensively covered U.S. and European politics. Giulia joined Newsweek in 2022 from CGTN Europe and had previously worked at the European Central Bank. She is a graduate in Broadcast Journalism from Nottingham Trent University and holds a Bachelor's degree in Politics and International Relations from Università degli Studi di Cagliari, Italy. She speaks English, Italian, and a little French and Spanish. You can get in touch with Giulia by emailing: g.carbonaro@newsweek.com.

Writers Page

Giulia Carbonaro is a Newsweek reporter based in London, U.K. Her focus is on the U.S. economy, housing market, property ... Read more