Friendly meeting with Biden and tension with Kamala Harris: Netanyahu's visit to the White House

Benjamin Netanyahu met separately with Joe Biden and Kamala Harris. As part of his state visit to Washington, D.C., Israel's prime minister was nostalgic with the president, whom he has known for 40 years, while the tone with the vice president was fate. There was some tension leading up to his meeting with Harris, the presumptive Democratic nominee for president.

On Wednesday, Netanyahu became the foreign leader to address a joint session of Congress the most number of times, surpassing Winston Churchill. The following day, he had formal meetings at the White House. 

The meeting with Biden was the most convivial and was marked by a certain nostalgia. The Israeli prime minister valued their relationship over the years and thanked the still-president for his cooperation with Israel. 

"Mr. President, we’ve known each other for 40 years and you’ve known every Israeli prime minister for 50 years from Golda Meir. So from a proud Jewish Zionist, to a proud Irish American Zionist, I want to thank you for 50 years of public service and 50 years of support for the State of Israel," Netanyahu said in front of the press, to which Biden joked that his meeting with Meir was when he was "12 years old." 

The meeting was the first face-to-face interaction between the two leaders since Biden visited Israel shortly after the war with the Hamas terrorist group broke out. 

Behind doors, Biden and Netanyahu discussed the future of the war with Hamas, a topic on which they have opposing positions. During his address to Congress, the Israeli prime minister assured that they would continue to fight until they achieve "total victory." 

"Israel will fight until we destroy Hamas's military capability and its rule in Gaza and bring all our hostages home. That is what total victory means. And we will not settle for less," he added. 

The Biden administration favors a cease-fire and previously criticized Netanyahu, understanding that he did not properly handle the civilian situation in the Gaza Strip. 

"We cannot look the other way in the face of these tragedies"

The tone of the meeting was very different from Kamala Harris'. From the start, they both appeared in front of the cameras; Harris shook his hand and thanked him for his presence without even smiling once. 

The two had already met in Jerusalem in 2017 when Harris was still a senator from California. "They discussed the challenges and opportunities we face in the region and the potential for deepening cooperation on water management, agriculture, cybersecurity and more," they reported from the embassy at the time.

Once the meeting was over, the vice president assured that it was a "frank and constructive," although she remarked her concern about the "devastating" humanitarian situation in Gaza. "We cannot look the other way in the face of these tragedies," she added. 

On negotiations for a cease-fire, John Kirby, White House national security spokesman, noted gaps that "can be closed." "It will take, as always, some leadership, some compromise," he concluded.