Israeli President Isaac Herzog is due to meet with U.S. President Joe Biden in Washington on Tuesday as Israel faces a major day of protest.
In Israel, the president, unlike in the United States has mainly representative duties.
But on the eve of Herzog’s visit, the White House announced that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu would make his first official visit to Washington during the Biden administration at some point this autumn.
Netanyahu returned to power in December for his sixth term as prime minister.
Yet for months Biden has expressed reluctance to extend an invitation to him in view of controversial actions by Netanyahu’s right-wing and religiously conservative government.
For Tuesday, the protest movement in Israel announced another “Day of Resistance” against the planned restructuring of the judiciary.
There are to be rallies and disruptive actions again in several cities.
The organisers appealed to the U.S. to prevent the Netanyahu government from carrying out its plans to weaken the independence of the courts.
The U.S. has long been Israel’s closest ally.
Next week, an important part of the reform to restrict the Supreme Court is to be passed in its second and third readings.
Critics see the separation of powers in danger and warn of the creeping introduction of a dictatorship. (dpa/NAN)
