Lapid To Visit Washington Next Week, With PM Netanyahu Yet To Make Trip

Barak Ravid at Axios: "Israeli head of opposition Yair Lapid will visit Washington next week for talks with White House and State Department officials, U.S. official tells me. Lapid visit comes as Prime Minister Neyanyahu still hasn't visited Washington since assuming office 8 months ago."

• The normally-close relations between Washington, D.C., and the Israeli gov't have proved strained in recent months. The controversial judicial reforms, that have brought about mass protests across Israel, have unnerved the US gov't, raising concerns about democratic checks and balances and the independence of the courts.
• Moreover, the broad far-right composition of the Netanyahu gov't does not gel well with the more liberal stance of the Biden administration in the US.
• The Israeli PM has not visited Washington, D.C., since taking office for a third time in Dec 2022. An official invite was extended from President Joe Biden in July, but no date has yet been set.
• A high-profile visit by Lapid taking place ahead of Netanyahu will be seen as an indicator of some lingering US concerns about the actions of the Israeli gov't, even as Washington attempts to push a normalisation deal between Israel and Saudi Arabia on leaders in Riyadh.