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Biden calls Israeli leaders Netanyahu and Rivlin

17 November 2020
 Dan Ackermann

President-elect Biden spoke on the phone today with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Israeli President Reuven Rivlin as part of series of congratulatory phone calls with leaders around the world.

The big picture: The order in which these calls are returned by an incoming president is closely watched. Biden called Netanyahu and Rivlin after speaking with the leaders of nine other U.S. allies over the past few days.

Flashback: PresidentTrump spoke with Netanyahu the day after he was elected in 2016, along with the leaders of several other countries including Egypt. America's closest European allies were left waiting a bit longer.

  • Biden, by contrast, started with Canada and then moved to U.S. allies in Europe (France, Germany, the U.K., Ireland and Italy) and the Asia-Pacific (Australia, Japan and South Korea). Biden also spoke with Pope Francis.
  • Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi announced a call with Biden shortly after Netanyahu's.
  • Between the lines: That might be an indication that Biden skipped over America's other Middle East allies, perhaps to emphasize the importance of working with fellow democracies.

What they're saying:

  • It is unclear whom Biden called first, but Rivlin was first to issue a statement: “As a long-standing friend of the State of Israel, you know that our friendship is based on values that are beyond partisan politics and that we have no doubt that, under your leadership, the United States is committed to Israel’s security and success."
  • Rivlin added he hoped to work with Biden “to build further bridges and hope across the region as the recently signed Abraham Accords have done." He invited Biden for a meeting in Jerusalem and asked him to also convey his best wishes to Vice President-elect Kamala Harris.
  • After his own 20-minute call with Biden, Netanyahu issued a statement referring for the first time to Biden as “the President-elect." Netanyahu said Biden stressed in the call that he is deeply committed to Israel’s security.

What’s next: Netanyahu said in his statement that he and Biden agreed to meet soon in order to strengthen the U.S.-Israel alliance.

Go deeper:Incoming Israeli ambassador will have to win over Democrats

Transcripts show George Floyd told police "I can't breathe" over 20 times

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Newly released transcripts of bodycam footage from the Minneapolis Police Department show that George Floyd told officers he could not breathe more than 20 times in the moments leading up to his death.

Why it matters: Floyd's killing sparked a national wave of Black Lives Matter protests and an ongoing reckoning over systemic racism in the United States. The transcripts "offer one the most thorough and dramatic accounts" before Floyd's death, The New York Times writes.

The state of play: The transcripts were released as former officer Thomas Lane seeks to have the charges that he aided in Floyd's death thrown out in court, per the Times. He is one of four officers who have been charged.

  • The filings also include a 60-page transcript of an interview with Lane. He said he "felt maybe that something was going on" when asked if he believed that Floyd was having a medical emergency at the time.

What the transcripts say:

  • Floyd told the officers he was claustrophobic as they tried to get him into the squad car.
  • The transcripts also show Floyd saying, "Momma, I love you. Tell my kids I love them. I'm dead."
  • Former officer Derek Chauvin, who had his knee on Floyd's neck for over eight minutes, told Floyd, "Then stop talking, stop yelling, it takes a heck of a lot of oxygen to talk."

Read the transcripts via DocumentCloud.