Joe Biden hosted his Israeli counterpart Isaac Herzog in Washington

President Joe Biden hosted his Israeli counterpart Isaac Herzog in Washington on Tuesday, a day after inviting Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to the US amid strains between the traditional allies over the hardline policies of Israel’s new government. Biden’s decision to invite Herzog, whose powers are largely ceremonial, ahead of Netanyahu has been widely interpreted in Israel as a sign of US concerns about his far-right government’s agenda, which includes a bitterly contested judicial overhaul and an acceleration of settlement building in the occupied West Bank. Herzog — who also met secretary of state Antony Blinken and will on Wednesday meet vice-president Kamala Harris and address a joint session of Congress — insisted ahead of his visit that the US-Israeli relationship was “above and beyond any and all disagreements”. Biden did not directly address US concerns about the domestic situation in remarks in the Oval Office alongside Herzog, calling the US-Israel relationship “simply unbreakable”. “Together we are working to bring more integration and stability in the Middle East. There’s a lot of hard work, we’ve got a lot more to do, but there is progress,” Biden said. After the meeting, Herzog told reporters that the two leaders discussed Iran’s nuclear threat and Hizbollah, in addition to the internal issues in Israel. “Israeli democracy is strong and resilient, and we should definitely see the current debate in Israel, with all its facets, as a tribute to the strength of Israeli democracy,” he said. Herzog said it was a “wonderful meeting” and called Biden a “huge friend of Israel”.