Thread by @GilesMacDonogh

#NYTimes:

A possible compromise in Israel

A day after Benjamin Netanyahu announced a delay in efforts to weaken Israel’s judiciary, his government and the opposition in Parliament began the first direct negotiations to reach a compromise since the plan was introduced.

Emotions subsided after weeks of unrest.

Four government negotiators and eight opposition counterparts held a meeting hosted by Israel’s figurehead president, Isaac Herzog. Participants said the meeting was mainly procedural. But it was the first face-to-face negotiation

between MPs from the two sides on a dispute that has divided Israeli society more bitterly than any in recent memory.

The U.S. ambassador to Israel said that President Biden would invite Netanyahu to Washington and grant him a long-sought meeting in the coming months. The Biden

administration had avoided extending such an invitation in recent weeks, as officials grew increasingly concerned about the plan.

But even though the Biden administration signaled its support for the delay, it did not suggest a complete reset in relations.

The U.S. ambassador said that no date had been fixed, leaving open the possibility of a delay if Netanyahu pushes ahead with the plan.

Netanyahu’s proposal is overshadowing a speech Biden plans to give today at the White House-led Summit for Democracy.

The crisis is testing the U.S. stance on autocratic practices; opponents have called Israel’s proposal anti-democratic.

Netanyahu promised Itamar Ben-Gvir, the far-right minister for national security, that he would consider creating a national guard under his control.

Critics say that such a move would effectively place a paramilitary body under the control of a man convicted of racist incitement and support for a terrorist group.