The National Security Council has been working in recent days to facilitate a conversation between Prime Minister Yair Lapid and US President Joe Biden as the renewal of the nuclear deal with Iran appears imminent, Channel 13 News reported.
According to the report, US officials have denied Lapid's request with the explanation that Biden is on vacation and have pledged that the conversation will take place when he returns.
Defense Minister Benny Gantz will leave for Washington tomorrow for talks regarding Israel's concerns about the nuclear deal. He will not meet there with US Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin, but with National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan.
Earlier, opposition leader Benjamin Netanyahu stressed the way the government is handling the impending revived nuclear deal. "Lapid attacked me in 2015 when I went to Congress. Even during my time, they wanted it to be conducted in closed rooms, because they know that the only way to influence policy is through public pressure - if you can't influence public opinion in the United States, you can't influence the policy."
He attacked Yair Lapid and Naftali Bennett and said: "There was a commitment from Bennett to Biden: We will not run a public campaign. The Obama administration asked me to 'let's talk in private'. Why? Because they know that the journey through Congress is the way to make change in the US. They gave up the freedom of operational action because Israel undertook to report to the US on any operation against the Iranian nuclear agreement, I never agreed to that, because I have a commitment to national security."