ISRAEL: White House Criticises Judicial Reform Vote

The White House has released a statement implicitly criticising today's Knesset vote which passed the first bill of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Natanyahu's judicial reforms.

• White House: "President Biden has publicly and privately expressed his views that major changes in a democracy to be enduring must have as broad a consensus as possible. It is unfortunate that the vote today took place with the slimmest possible majority."
• White House: "The United States will continue to support the efforts of President Herzog and other Israeli leaders as they seek to build a broader consensus through political dialogue."
• The episode has provoked a strong but measured response from the Biden administration which repeatedly warned Netanyahu to build a consensus before holding a vote on the legislation. Biden even took the unusual step of directly calling on Netanyahu to moderate his domestic agenda.
• Today's vote is likely to provoke an even stronger reaction from the White House - any significant fracture in the US-Israeli relationship will further destabilise Israel's fragile political climate. White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre will brief the press at 15:00 ET 20:00 BST: LINK